Mentalities
by Sarnai4
Summary: An AU version of Dagur as a deranged viking, but one who has been good from the start. Rated T for violence.
1. Advice

_An AU version of Dagur growing up as a crazy viking, but one who has been good from the start. Rated T for violence_

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except Ylva, technically. All copyrights go to Dreamworks and others who worked on the series.**

**Advice**

Two vikings were conversing in a room. The elder of the two sat, watching amusedly as the other man paced.

"And he just went after some poor chicken. Everytime I take a look at him, he's getting into more trouble! What is **wrong** with him, Uncle Haggard? What should I do?" asked Oswald the Agreeable, not feeling quite worthy of that title as of late. "Did you explain **why** he couldn't go after that bird? I'm certain that I only heard chastisement." was the response from Haggard the Jolly. Oswald's frustrated frown deepend, "I shouldn't need to tell someone that if they pluck all the feathers off a chicken, it's going to make a lot of noise. It was deafening." Haggard chuckled, "I'm still doing fine. Have your youthful ears already begun to fail you Ossie?" "You know that isn't the point."

Oswald slumped into his throne and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If my observations are correct, it seems like he thinks **entirely**_," _Haggard emphasized, moving his hands in a big circle, "differently than we do. Can't expect him to naturally think what's wrong **is**, in fact, wrong." He was met with a long sigh. The viking rose and went over to his nephew, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Before he could say anything, a horrified shriek, maniacal laughing, and delighted giggles were heard. "Oh, Thor!" the Berserker chief jumped up and ran to where the commotion was.

**Fun 'n Games**

Oswald rushed into the room to find his son juggling his daughter. "Dagur!" Ylva yelled. Her son immediately stopped and looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong, Mom?" he asked, now carefully holding his little sister. "You are behaving like Heather is nothing more than a-a play toy or something!" Ylva looked at her husband, wondering if he had just come in for the heck of it and not to add anything. Oswald was very pale and near faint. Dagur would be seven in a good few months and his sister had just turned four. Now that she was bigger, he figured they could hang out more and play more games.

Ylva just made an exasperated sound and stormed out the room, but not without taking her little girl with her. Dagur looked at his father with an unassuming expression._ "What can we do with him? He can't be stupid, I've heard such clever things come out of him and seen others. What is the problem here?" _The chief thought.

Sensing that he was needed, Haggard came over too. "What happened here, Dagur? Why is your father so flabbergasted?" he inquired. "I'm not sure, Great Uncle Haggard. I was playing with Heather and then Mom got mad at me." "What sort of game were you playing?" he pressed. "Juggling." Dagur answered with a unsettling smile. "Well, while I'm sure she woulda been fine, it's easy to imagine that it could've looked like Heather was about to fall and get hurt." The man said, calmly and with a gentle smile. Realization hit Dagur, "I didn't mean to worry you and Mom, Dad and I **definitely** wouldn't have dropped her!" he said, desperately trying to assure the two. His dad still said nothing and left back to his throne room.

Dagur's face dropped and Haggard cleared his throat. "Did I ever tell you about my favorite battle?" Without waiting for an answer-that would have been "Yes"- he started, "There we were. Three against a thousand...toughest three we ever fought." They burst out laughing. It was his great nephew's favorite war tale of his. That returned the smile, and though it was a disturbing one, it was worse when it was not present in Haggard's opinion. "I promise I won't juggle her anymore." the boy said. "I know, Lad. Here." He handed him some pebbles that he kept in the corner of the room just for the boy. "Practice your accuracy on those marked trees out back with these. It'll help you in future battles with taking enemies out from a distance." he instructed. Dagur gave a nod and, excitedly, ran outside. Haggard sighed. Honestly, even he did not really know what more to do for the boy than explain what he could, the best that he could, and just try to be there for him when he would need someone.

**The Docks**

There were some issues that the chief had to hear from the Berserkers. Little things like "Where should I put this new yak field?" and big things like "When are we explanding or are we just waiting to overpopulate the island?" He hated those latter questions the most. Ylva had said that she wanted to stay home this time and watch Heather, so he had planned to go alone.

Haggard suggested taking Dagur with him-something that never happened and for which he received a look full of angst. Nevertheless, he had his way and the boy went out with someone other than his great uncle for the first time.

Dagur loved going to the docks that were on the way to the Hall. The coolest vikings could be seen there. Not wanting him to make a peculiar spectacle of himself in front of everyone, Oswald told Dagur to wait around the docks until he was finished. Dagur, happily, obliged. Listening to people complain on and on with his dad sounded really boring anyway, but Haggard had wanted him to go and pay attention for when he would become the head of the Berserkers.

Dagur looked around and smiled at some kids his age as he passed them. They hurried away, giving uncomfortable glances behind them. Since talking to them was a non factor, Dagur went over to the edge of the docks and started spying some sharp-toothed fish.

A crowd of cheering vikings snapped Dagur out of his fascination with the shiny fish that had started eating each other. At the heart if the circle was a teenaged viking doing pushups with five others balanced on his back. He had seen this guy a lot of times with Haggard. Always he had wanted to stop and see the cool tricks and stunts of the one who had become known as "The Great Future of Berserkers", but they never did. Haggard did not seem to like the guy very much, so Dagur never pushed the question to watch. This time, though, he could!

After finishing the pushups, the viking started to bend and break various irons-much to the delight of his onlookers. He, clearly, relished in the audience's applause. "Ladies and Gentlemen, have you enjoyed the glorious feats of Ansson the Abominable?" A spokesviking asked, loudly. A unanimous "Wooh!" confirmed they did.

This continued for a long time and just as Dagur would start to get bored with it, Ansson upped the ante. "Who among you would like to be like the great Ansson?" the same announcer asked. The vikings looked at the young man with trepidation. Even though they loved to see him do what he did, trying it themselves sounded like inevitable doom and embarrassment.

"_It would be a shame for them to just leave Ansson hanging like that. After all the performances he gave, they could at least participate." _Dagur thought. He went to the front of the crowd, "I'll try to be like Ansson." he offered. More than a few chuckles could be heard at the thought of the little boy doing anything remotely similar to the impressive viking. The announcer looked at Ansson with a disbelieving face; however, Ansson gave a nod.

"All right, kid. Come on up and try to be like me." Amsson stated. Dagur leapt onto the stage with the two older vikings with a laugh and smile. The announcer shuddered a bit because of that. "Having five people on **your** back probably won't get ya too far. **I'll** sit on you to make it fair." the abominable viking informed the boy. Dagur got in the plank position, just missing the wily smirk that had formed on Ansson's face. The older viking sat down, hard. Next, he felt himself moving up and down. Ansson looked down in shock, "_He's actually doing it!" _The crowd was surprised too and started a delayed reaction applause. With a quick frown, Ansson got up. "Of course, that was the easiest of my exploits." He bent down and put an arm around Dagur's shoulders. "Now what I really love trying is juggling knives. Have to be juuust right. Or else," he brought a finger to his neck and moved it from the left side to the right. "You do that too?!" Dagur explaimed, happily. "What?" Ansson failed to contain his astonishment as the boy pulled out five daggers. "Do you have any more?" he asked the older viking. "I couldn't find that many ways to store them." he said, downcast. "Um, I usually juggle...ten." Ansson lied. He collected five more from audience members and handed them to the young heir. Immediately, Dagur started tossing them around, impressively. The large viking glared at him, "Okay that's good enough." He took the other five back and shoved them at his announcer to give back to the owners.

Looking around, he spotted the same area of water by whom Dagur had been entranced. "Any real Berserker can jump into those waters and bring out three of those fish. I've done it at least six times this week." he boasted. Dagur knew those fish were carnivorous, but he also knew that if you caught one by the gills, it would be helpless. "Three, you said." he clarified. "Three." Ansson repeated. The boy bolted to the edge and was about to jump.

"Dagur!" Oswald shouted. His son stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him. "Yes." he pressed, calmly. The chief looked around at his people and at his son about to make his last splash. "We're going back home now." he told him. "But, Dad I was about to grab three fish. Can't I do that real fast first?" Dagur requested. Oswald could think of no words to even express himself, coherently. He pointed at Dagur and to his own side. Dagur, reluctantly, came.

"_Who's to say what would have happened if he brought those fish out? He might have let it eat some of my vikings." _Oswald thought. They walked home in silence, Oswald looking sternly forward and Dagur looking for anything that might be new. This did nothing to divert Dagur's attention, as he had hoped it would, and he could no longer handle the dreary sounds of only chickens. "What was wrong this time?" he asked. Oswald finally looked at him and sighed. "Those fish were carnivorous, Dagur." he tried to explain. "I know. They look really cool and I've caught some before." the boy informed the man. His father just looked at him with a disturbed expression and continued going onward.

Haggard had hoped this time would be good for some bonding, but as soon as the two entered, he knew that his plan had failed. Oswald went straight to his throne room. "I was going to catch some fish." Dagur told Haggard, trying to explain the melancholy atmosphere. "He was probably concerned that either you would get eaten or someone else would when you brought them out." Haggard said. "So don't do that either, huh?" the young boy looked at the man. He received a nod as a response.

_"Well, if we keep ruling things out, I'll eventually run out of this _**not**_ to do and can just be." _Dagur thought.

**Passing the Time**

It had been a week since the trip to the docks and Haggard again suggested that they bring Dagur somewhere. He was far from one to be cooped up in a building. "Ylva, you could get some fresh air _and_ spend some time with the boy." he attempted to persuade her. "Uncle Haggard, I should watch Heather. Start teaching her the fundamentals of ruling a tribe." She stated. "Have you taught that to Dagur yet?" she was asked. Ylva hesitated and Haggard gave her a reprimanding frown. "**He's** going to be chief one day. Even if they should share the throne, he needs to know too. I thought I would let his parents teach him that, but if **I**must, I shall. Now, though, I want one of you to take him out to the docks or trading station or anything." he said and looked at Oswald who was paying no attention to either of them. "Are you truly deaf, boy, or have you simply lost your will to live?" Oswald, hurriedly, answered, "Sorry, Uncle. I'll bring him to the trading place with me. If it will make you happy." he conceded. Haggard shook his head. "_It's getting hard to be jolly around here." _he thought.

Dagur walked about at his father's side. The trading place was always so lively. Vikings young and old were bustling around looking for or buying things. The father-son pair went to a trader with a stubby beard to obtain a few objects. Most of the things looked pretty boring, except for two big, round lenses. "_I'll probably never be allowed to touch those." _Dagur figured, bitterly. As they walked away, Oswald handed Dagur a boring trinket to keep him busy. "Here. Entertain yourself with this while I go speak to Helga about the new weapons." he instructed. Dagur nodded and, absent mindedly, thanked him. He was barely paying attention, but got the gist of what was being said.

After his dad left, Dagur went over to a big tree and looked at the plain thing. "_Now what can I do with this metal...stick? Maybe I can use it to balance disks on?" _he pondered. Unbeknownst to him (as he was balancing himself on the little thing) he was being watching by a pair of eyes. Just as someone was coming behind him, he knew that there was someone. Turning around, he saw who it was.

"Dagur." Ansson stated. "What're you doing?" he asked. "Balancing on this stick thingy. What are you doing this time?" Dagur asked, feeling hopeful for something interesting. "Not much. Hey, it's a shame the chief didn't think you could get those puny creatures." Ansson started. "I've caught some before." Dagur protested. "If you say so." "I have!" Ansson could tell that the boy was getting angry and pressed more, "If you aren't lying, go and catch some." he told him. Dagur faltered. "My dad doesn't want me to do that anymore." he grumbled. "I guess he just thinks you can't. That you're too-what's the word?- dainty." The older boy instigated. "It fits. Everyone! Behold our future chief! Dagur the Dainty!" he said, far louder than Dagur had hoped. The teen burst out laughing at his own self-proclaimed wit and was soon joined by others who heard him. Dagur could feel the heat rise in his cheeks. He was furious, but knew he could not attack Ansson over something like that. His parents would be so dissappointed. The other viking went to the metal stick and took it for himself. "Give that back." Dagur tried to order. He thought little of it, but it was the principle of the matter. Ansson just kept right on his merry way, ignoring the boy.

"_That's it. There's no way I'm going to let him say that about me _and_ take the dumb thing. _**My**_ dumb thing!" _Dagur thought angrily. He charged at Ansson and tackled him to the ground. The larger boy shoved him off and brought his fist down like a sledgehammer on Dagur's head. This disoriented him and he felt himself getting dragged. Seeing less stars, he struggled to get out of the strong hold. He did at last, but was too late to realize he had been let go. He fell about ten feet until reaching the cold water. The carnivorous fish-infested water.

Noticing that he had been dropped off a hill, he quickly swam to the docks-which were a nice distance. Stabbing pains in left calf and right bicep alerted him that the fish were starting to eat him. He swam faster and climbed up onto the docks. Panting, he yanked a fish off of his hair. He was soaked to the bone, and bleeding some. He ripped a few bits of his garments, "_Not like these are keeping me warm anyway."_ Tying them like bandages-something Haggard had taught him- he stopped the bleeding.

Dagur waited for what seemed like forever for his father to return. Finally the chief did come. "What happened now?" he asked, exasperated. Seeing no other real option, Dagur told him. Oswald sighed, "You shouldn't let your temper always get the best of you." They returned home and the man told the chieftess.

**Stress**

Dagur went over to the main room and saw his sister playing with the shield she had received a while ago. Ylva entered, looking almost flushed. "_She's looked this way a lot lately. Now that I think about it."_ Dagur thought. Their mom ran a hand through her red hair and plopped down in her chair. "Are you okay, Mom?" Dagur asked. She just looked at him, blankly. "I'd be better if I didn't have to worry about what crazy antics you are going to be in every second." she told him.

_"Could this be genetic?" _Ylva wondered. "_Where'd he get this illness, though, if that's the case? Oh, I hope my dear Heather doesn't wind up like this."_ She started to pace around like a madwoman. Uncle Haggard entered the room just in time to see her. "Dagur, Heather, could you two go play outback for a little bit?" he requested. Dagur always knew when he was not supposed to hear or see something. Heather was still learning and frowned. "But it's all cold out there." she noted, innocently. Dagur, gently, took her hand and led her out. "Great Uncle Haggard doesn't want us to hear what he's going to say. Or something like that." he whispered in her ear.

Haggard went over to his niece-in-law, "Ylva dear, you must calm down." he told her, "You're worrying us all." She looked at him with sad eyes, "I'm just stressing over the kids. What if Heather becomes like Dagur?" she asked, clearly dreading the thought. "That's far from the worst possibility, Ylva. Your son is better than you give him credit for being." Haggard gave her a warm smile, "They both need and **will** need you. Please take care of yourself." he brightened up, "I could teach you some of my best meditation techniques!" he offered, excitedly. She looked unmoved by that idea. "If you teach anyone that, teach Dagur so that he might learn to be at least a little sane." she put on a smile, "We all need some rest for the trip." she stated. She went to prepare some mead for herself, leaving Haggard to look on in dismay.

**Voyage**

The time for the annual peace treaty with Berk had come again. Ylva and Oswald were looking forward to seeing Stoick the Vast, Gobber the Belch, and the little Hiccup the Horrendous. How he must have grown from the last time. He was just barely younger than Heather; in fact, he was only a few months younger and would be celebrating his fourth birthday during their visit. "Ah, I hope Stoick's well. I remember when he was a wee one." Haggard declared, as their ships docked. Said chief, heir, and Gobber were waiting for them. Dagur was literally jumping for joy.

The Berserker leaders went forward, but were almost trampled by an ecstatic Dagur. He ran over to Hiccup and gave him a bear hug, "Hiccup!" he shouted. The younger boy giggled. Hiccup did not really remember Dagur since he was too young, but he liked the positive attention. Stoick shook his head, good-naturedly at them and went forward to greet the leaders.

"Oswald, Ylva, I hope your trip was a pleasant one." the chief said. When he saw who was with him, he eyes widened a bit. "Haggard the Jolly? It's been forever, man, how have you been?" As the adults continued their banter, the kids were talking too. "Hi, I'm Heather." the young girl introduced herself. "What do you do for fun around here?" she asked. "Well, I watch Gobber make weapons, but it looks like he's gonna be busy for a while." the boy said. "Heard it'll be your birthday tomorrow." Dagur grinned. Hiccup smiled, brightly and nodded. "Looks like we're going to have to make sure it's an extra fun day then!" Dagur announced, ending with his laugh. Hearing this, Stoick looked at the kids. After a quick glance at the Berserker parents, he turned back to the young ones. "Hiccup, Heather was too young to remember seeing Berk when they last came. How about you show them around, Son?" he suggested. "Okay!" The three ran off, contently.

"And up there is where Mildew lives. You don't wanna be around him, though. He's pretty grumpy." Hiccup guided them throughout the island. "Silent Sven lives there." the boy pointed to a little hut with sheep all over the yard. "Is he really silent?" Heather asked. "Yep. I've never heard a word outta him." Hiccup told her.

They went to the main area where most of the houses were. "We have a healer too. Her name's Go-" An apple hitting him in the head, interrupted Hiccup. The trio looked around and found a stocky kid with dark hair making faces at them. "Who are you?" Dagur asked, or rather demanded to know. "I'm Snotlout. Or you can call me 'The best viking to ever live'. Either works." he smirked. Two other kids popped up behind him, who were clearly twins. "Don't try to block the fruit, Hiccup. It might just break your arm!" Snotlout shouted. The twins chuckled as Snotlout threw another apple at Hiccup. Dagur caught it and inch from the younger boy's head and crushed it in his hand. He stormed over to them and grabbed the dark haired boy by his shirt. "Explain yourself in two seconds or use that time to make your final words." Snotlout was at a loss for words and just stammered. "Hm, not what I'd say, but hey." He lifted the boy off the ground. "Dagur stop!" Hiccup yelled.

"_Stop, stop, stop. That's all everyone wants me to do." _Dagur fumed. He, roughly, dropped the short boy. "Fine, in **more** than two seconds explain yourself." he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Uh, I-we-Hiccup is really small and not vikinglike!" Snotlout blurted out in fear. "It's freaky." The boy twin said, or at least Dagur thought it was the boy twin. "And who are you two?" he asked, feeling annoyed. "Tuffnut." "Ruffnut." they answered in cannon. "It's not any of your places to decide what **is** and **isn't** normal. If I find out that you keep trying to bully him." Dagur glared at the rowdy kids, pulled out three daggers, and threw them directly over their heads. They yelped and scattered away. "Thanks, Dagur." Hiccup said. "Don't mention it. We're like brothers." The older viking told him.

_"No one else ever stands up for me." _the little boy thought, half sadly and half happily. The day went on smoothly for the youths. Meanwhile, the adults were discussing some things about them.

"He doesn't seem to be growing much. I just want him to be strong enough to not get hurt when the dragons attack. They always target the weakest." Stoick confided. "Don't worry about him. He's a smart boy and will be fine." Ylva assured the Berk chief. "But he's not even ruthless. Not in the slightest! How is he to not die if he's unwilling to take lives?" the man went on. "He's got a point there," Gobber started, "When I was his age, I had strangled at least fifteen chickens and hunted four sheep for the family dinners." Stoick scowled at his friend. "Still, there's no need to worry. I've never been a particularly aggressive viking myself and if I'm not mistaken, I'm still alive and well." Oswald offered. Haggard chuckled, lightly. "He just will need to find something he's confident in. After he does that, he's be able to defend himself and Berk." The eldest viking advised. Stoick sighed, "I suppose you might be right. Well, how are your two doing?" "Heather's starting to become quite the warrior. Smart as a whip and with a heart of gold." Ylva stated, beaming. Oswald positively shined as well, "She does make me hopeful for our people's future." he added. "And what of Dagur?" Gobber inquired. A noticeable pause occurred. Haggard shook his head, "He's well. Great accuracy, caring boy too and with a clever head on his shoulders." An almost inaudible scoff was made. "What was that laugh? It was a bit unnerving, if I'm being honest." said Gobber. "We're not sure. He's a bit...off. Couldn't tell you why or how it happened." Oswald informed them.

Stoick and Gobber had dealt with a lot of things during their lifetimes, but never the prospect of an unstable person. Untrustworthy yes, but not unstable. They could think of no advice to give the couple and instead showed them to their room. Ylva plopped down in a chair, looking pale. Oswald rushed to her side. "Ylva!" he felt her forehead. "It's no fever, Waldo." she told him. "Then what is it?" he asked, desperately. "I don't know, but I've felt this way for a while now. I'll be okay, I just... need some rest, dear." she fell asleep as soon as she finished her sentence. Oswald looked at her, worriedly. "Sleep well, love and please get better."

**Exploration**

It was Hiccup's birthday. Actually, the Berserkers had wanted to celebrate it with them all and figured they could just do the treaty too while they were there. Dagur was exulted and kept poking Heather until she woke up. "What time is it?" she asked, dreamily. "It's Hiccup's birthday! We've got to make sure it's great.." he stated, "Now go get ready, so we can start." Heather grumbled and got up.

The two Berserker siblings found Hiccup with Gobber. Dagur gave the birthday boy a sideways hug. "So, what do you want to today?" he asked, bouncing slightly with enthusiasm. "I guess just weld some weapons." Hiccup shrugged. The older boy gasped, "We have to do more than that. Do you **really** want to just watch welding, or do you not know what else to do?" The youngest viking looked uncertain. He kept glancing in between Gobber and the Berserkers, not sure with whom to spend the day. Gobber picked up on this, "Go on, Lad. You can watch me make weapons anyday. But today's not anyday. Go have some fun with some kids for a change." The children galloped off.

"We could go into the forest." Heather suggested. Hiccup was not too sure about that. A part of him wanted to explore-and now he finally had someone with him who would not make fun of him and could make sure he stayed alive- and another part feared the woods. "_But Gobber is right. Today's not any regular day. Who knows when I'll get this chance again_?" he thought, "All right. Let's try it."

The forest was massive. Puffins shuffled in tree branches as they walked. Dagur put an arm in front of the two to stop them. "What's wrong?" Hiccup asked. The older boy pointed to a Eurasian Lynx that was fighting a Gronckle. "Want to wear the loser?" he inquired, quietly, with a deranged twinkle in his eyes. "No!" Hiccup protested, more loudly than he should have. The two creatures stopped and waited to sense from where the noise had come. Dagur pushed the two smaller vikings to the ground just as they looked where the kids would have been. He brought his pointer finger to his lips.

"_Looks like I'll be taking both the dragon _and_ the cat. I've got to teach Hiccup to whisper in situations like this." _Dagur thought. He looked at his sister and friend and fear was evidently in their faces. He would make sure they stayed safe, no matter what.

"_I've got some knives, obviously, but that won't be enough. Will it? No, no it won't." _He looked around and tried to remember what he had seen in that forest last time. There was a ditch not too far from them. He could lose the Lynx in that and if he could injure the Gronckle's wing, he could lose it there too. "Don't hurt them." Hiccup begged, after seeing the other boy contemplating actions. Dagur grimaced, "We'll see. When they're out of sight, run back to the village." he ordered. The two animals were about to come over to the three when Dagur jumped out from behind the rocks with a battle cry.

He started to lead them down a path to the ditch. Looking behind him to ensure they were there, he saw the Gronckle was not. Two screams could be heard. He made a frustrated grunt, "_Can't climb a tree to lose this thing. Oh well, I never made a promise." _He threw a dagger into the feline's front leg. The lynx whimpered in pain and fell. Dagur would have almost felt bad, if the thing would have otherwise kept him alive.

He doubled back to the little vikings and saw them running through trees, trying to dodge lava spews. Hiccup tripped and Heather went back to help him. The Gronckle was hovering above and was about to melt them both. It prepared itself to shoot and let out an agonized roar. The dragon fell and hit the earth with a crash. Its right wing had a bad tear in it from Dagur's knife. The reptile was spooked as it saw the Berserker charge and it flew away. "Are you two okay?" Dagur asked them. They nodded, shaken. "_This isn't how his birthday was supposed to go." _he thought, "Let's head back."

The parents soon found Gobber, "Have you seen Heather or Hiccup?" they inquired. "Yep. The three kids went into the forest a while ago. Now that I think about it, they should've been back by now." he answered. The parents paled, "You let them do what?" Stoick boomed. "Get some fresh air?" Gobber offered and sighed, knowing it was pointless to explain himself. Just as the chief was about to run out to find his son, the kids entered the welding station. "Hiccup! You're all right." Stoick exclaimed. They little boy nodded, timidly. "Heather!" Oswald and Ylva embraced their daughter. Giving Dagur a stern look, Ylva asked, "Do we even need to question who suggested going to the forest in the first place?" "It was me, Mommy." was Heather's response. Her parents were taken aback by this information. Rendered mute, they simply stared at the children.

Haggard had come in at the end, just in time to catch the drift. "The important thing is that no one is hurt." he gave a broad smile, "Birthday antics should not spot so suddenly." He gave his nephew and niece-in-law a look which said, "We'll talk about this later."

That night Dagur gave Hiccup his present. He recalled him being amazed by trinkets, so he found what the trader called "A welder's dream". There was a part attached to the object that allowed close up viewing, cutting, and forming. It made the little boy's day. Hiccup had never seen anything so cool to him before. He gave Dagur a big hug in appreciation.

Oswald and Ylva were in their room looking at the floor and sky, respectively. "She's been around him too much. She's tainted now." Ylva concluded, as silent tears descended from her eyes. "There might still be hope. If we continue to pray to Odin-" Oswald started. "There is no hope!" Ylva cried. Again, she was pale and ill looking. "None at all."

The next day Oswald told Stoick that their visit had to be cut short. Ylva just was not well enough to be away from home any longer. With sincere condolences, Stoick, Hiccup, and Gobber said their goodbyes.

**Staying Strong**

A couple of years passed and Ylva laid in her bed, constantly. She was too ill to get up or do anything. Oswald would go to the treaties with only Heather, as Dagur and Haggard wanted to make sure Ylva had everything she needed; however she would never allow either in to see her. Only Heather was allowed. Within a few months time, she passed. A funeral was held and the Hairy Hooligan tribe was invited.

"I'm so sorry, Oswald. And trust me, I know that doesn't make it feel better, but we _are_ here for you." Stoick said. Oswald looked at him with grateful and heartbroken eyes. Hiccup saw Heather crying and went over to her. "It's going to be all right." he consoled. She shook her head, "No. My mom is gone forever. Nothing is all right." And she burst into sobs.

Seeing there was nothing he could do for Heather, Hiccup looked for Dagur. He was not in the reception area at all. The boy was found in a large tree not top far from anyone. Hiccup came over to him. "You couldn't help Heather stop crying either, huh?" Dagur questioned. The little boy looked at his feet, "No. I didn't know what to say." "_In fact I still don't know what to say." _Hiccup mused, "Um, are you okay?" "Yeah!" Dagur reponded, too quickly. He laughed, "I mean if my dad and sister are going to be bawling everywhere, **someone** needs to be fine. Right?" He choked out that last word and regretted that. Dagur immediately looked away, not trusting himself with direct eye contact or more speaking. "They're going to light the boat soon. Are you coming?" Hiccup asked. With a pause, Dagur jumped down from the tree and rolled over to him. He nodded, solemnly.

Oswald fired the first arrow into the ship and Dagur the second before everyone commenced. Heather was still sniffling as Oswald retired to their house. As soon as the family entered and closed the door, the chief sobbed, uncontrollably. Father and daughter found comfort in each other to soothe their sorrows.

"_Mom, was always the authoritative one. I'll have to help Uncle Haggard lead the Berserkers. Dad just won't be able to handle it__ alone."_ Dagur sat in his room, thinking. He would be the brave one, the one to look after what needed to be done and make sure no rivalling tribes took over, that was what being a Berserker meant.

**Chiefing**

A month had gone by since the funeral and Oswald had barely left his home. In an effort to help Heather move on to more positive times, he gave her one of the two lenses that he had bought back when he had first gone to the trading station with Dagur. "These will bring you great treasures in knowledge." he said. More than a bit, reluctantly, he gave the other to his son.

_"This should keep him from complaining about not getting one or something." _he mused, ruefully. Dagur used it to look at things far away and start fires- much to his father's chagrin.

Haggard and Dagur were sitting in the main room. "Now, before you learn how to start chiefing, you need to learn self-restraint. Meditation will be an important part of your life when dealing with difficult situations. I, personally, find it easiest if you close your eyes and chant something. Observe." Haggard sat legs crossed over each other and the back of his hands placed on his knees. "Omm, Imagine the mist of the calm ocean. Omm. I am at peace with my place in the universe." With a happy sigh, he reopened his eyes. Dagur tried, "Omm. The boars are being hunted om-" Haggard stopped him, "No, Dagur." he chuckled, "This has to be about something peaceful. Not violent or unhappy in any way."

It took a few more tries for the boy to not chant a disturbing one, but he finally started to understand. "Okay. Let's see what needs to be done around here." The elder rose and they went around the island making sure everything was in tip top shape. It was a busy day since the chief had not been present in a while- and you should never leave Berserkers to themselves for too long.

"You go to the houses and the hall. I'll go to the trading station and docks, so this way we'll get more accomplished." Haggard instructed. They split and Dagur went and listened to people's complaints. "What if someone **outside** the Archipelago raids? We need to know what's out there." Someone noted. Dagur thought for a moment, "Agreed, but we don't have enough resources to do that yet and we'll need to train harder first." That appeased the crowd, temporarily.

"When's the chief coming back?" a voice called out. Dagur recognized the voice and inwardly groaned. "Are we supposed to take orders from an old man who never even had the birthright himself, or a mere child not even double digits yet? I nominate myself for acting chief until Oswald can return to his senses." Ansson declared. It had been a long time since the two had seen each other as Dagur had never really left the house during his mother's bed-ridden days. "The chief will return to lead you when he deems it time." Dagur stated, firmly, "Until then, Haggard and I will take the mantle." Ansson practically growled at him and stomped out of the hall. With an inaudible sigh of relief, Dagur continued answering questions.

The rest of it went fine. Most of the issues were miniscule and the young heir soon was on his way to the houses. "I can't seem to find the problem with this fence. There keep being random weak spots and **everytime**I put the sheep in here, they escape. It's getting to be an issue for the neighbors." the viking complained to the boy. Dagur pondered for a little and brightened. Pulling out his lense, he examined the fence. He pointed to a little bump, "It's a termite mound. A new one too. That's what's wrong with the fence, Abnar." The older viking, happily, began work on clearing it and Dagur went on to his next errand.

"_Okay, got to visit Helga to see how everything is coming along in that department and then-" _His thoughts were cut short as he sensed someone approaching behind him. He flipped around in a defensive stance. Ansson glared at him, "How about we fight for the position?" "No way. The position's mine now as it will be in the future. You just need to let that sink through your thick skull." he said, through gritted teeth.

Ansson sent a quick kick at the boy. Dagur dodged it just in the nick of time, but was hit by a club that the older viking had kept behind his back. Despite this, Dagur knew he was faster and tried to tire the large Ansson out. The teenager had more experience fighting and used that to his advantage. He attacked in a way that he knew would be ineffective. Dagur beamed at avoiding all of the "Abominable" Annson's attacks so much that he failed to notice he was being guided in a direction. Soon, the forest was behind him and his only way out. Ansson charged at him, forcing him into the woods.

The older viking knew those woods well. He hunted there frequently and loved the momentum attacking from trees gave. Immediately, he climbed a tree and was hidden by its foliage. Dagur could not tell if he were even in the same tree or not. "_'Leave your knives', he said. 'You won't need them where we're going', he said._ _I'm gonna _**strap**_ those babies to me if I ever get out of here." _Dagur thought.

Like a Gronckle falling on the sand, Ansson jumped out of the tree above him and pinned him to the ground. A series of punches, sledgehammer fists, and club whackings ensued. Dagur was strong for his age, but Ansson was a lot older and bigger still. "You can't even win against me. How are you going to lead us against armies? You'll never be a real chief or Berserker, Dainty." He got up and pulled the boy up by his neck, slamming him into a tree trunk, then putting him into the Berserker choke hold. Dagur tried to pry off the fingers and almost did. Little stars started to form where Ansson should have been. He kicked the big viking in the chest and knocked him off. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Another sledge hammer fist to his skull came.

The lense started to fall out of its place from all the movement and Ansson took notice, "What's this thing?" He grabbed it and looked through, "You know, the forest is a nice place." he started, marching over to Dagur(who was still trying to find his bearings and leaning against a tree trunk). Ansson took some small ropes, concealed in his garments, out. Dagur was able to see this and struggled to balance standing without the tree's support. The older boy sneered and then smirked. He quickly kneed Dagur between the legs and let the boy drop. When he hit the ground, Ansson took the ropes and tied his ankles and wrists. He then opened Dagur's mouth-avoiding some attempted bites- and shoved in a cloth. "See ya around, Chief Dainty."

**To Prove One's Self**

After waiting long enough for the throbbing pain to ebb, slightly, Dagur hopped over to a sharp stone. He had learned where that was when he was tackled to the ground. He rubbed the roped ropes on his wrists over it again and again. Patience was not his strong suit, but his options were limited. They tore just enough so that he could rip the rest by separating his hands(okay maybe not quite enough for most people, but like I said, patience was not his strong suit). He undid the ropes on his ankles and limped back to the village. He was really getting to dislike forests.

He cleaned up before heading over to Helga's. He found a helmet that Stoick had given his father for him when he was born. It was too big for him, but he hoped it would cover the black eye and other bruises that were beginning to form. "_How embarrassing." _he thought, "_Heir to the throne who's destined to fight countless armadas and lead his own got beaten up by a simple village bully. I could try to come up with something more...daring, but it's not like Ansson's not probably told half the tribe already." _Dagur let out a frustrated roar. "I'm trying to take care of business here, Thor! Come on! Give me some slack." he yelled, aloud.

Dagur kept doing the best he could- and it was genuinely good. Oswald just stayed home, mainly. He told Heather different things about her lense and mother, but that was basically the extent of his activities. Dagur did not want Heather to bear the burden of all the problem solving, but he kept her informed of what was happening around the village. The help Haggard gave was irreplaceable also. Even though he was doing well, Oswald was still unpleased with him and Ansson refused to respect him. Anytime their paths crossed, Ansson would take something from him-mostly dignity in Dagur's opinion.

Just as he would do something to convince the tribe that he could be a good chief, despite his age and occasional mental instability, Ansson would infuriate him and prove him to still just be a kid. Dagur hated that guy more than anything. He was upset with his dad too for that. He understood that Haggard was, well, a bit haggard. He was far from the prime of his life and the trips around the island hardly helped him. Dagur knew that if his great uncle could, he would not allow this man to attack him the way he did. But what was Oswald's excuse? Ansson was too old to be Dagur's bully, he always had been. Ansson had just had a birthday and was then twenty and Dagur was turning twelve in a few months. With each battle exercise in his training group, Ansson learned more skills to practice on the boy.

Ansson would sometimes yoke Dagur's head back by his braid and bring one of his own daggers to his throat. Rage would boil inside him like an active volcano, but it taught him to keep a cool(ish) head. He learned if he acted on his impulses when he wanted to, he would get very injured. Another indirect lesson Ansson helped him learn was fighting. Each new move the man used, Dagur studied and used, later, on him back.

Their fights had become far from onesided, the issue was that not only was Ansson more experienced and strong, but Dagur always had the nagging feeling of what his father would say if Ansson came back and complained of being mortally wounded. "_Oh Mr. Agreeable would probably disown me if I ever went that far. Maybe even go as severe as banishment for being too crazy."_

As much as he wanted to tell everyone he was sane, he really could not. He knew he saw things very differently than everone else. That he wanted to go for the kill whenever there was even a possible chance of success. He tried to not laugh as much around his dad. Oswald always looked just plain disgusted when he did. Dagur was beginning to realize he could be a little bit obsessive too. He would train until Haggard ordered him to stop, just so he could be the best Berserker warrior. No one was going to call him dainty when he could take any one of them. He relished in the thought of killing Ansson with his bare hands-well, maybe with at least one dagger. The various ways he mentally conceived accomplishing that errand could disturb even the most ruthless of vikings.

**Protection**

One day, the Berserkers received word from Berk requesting some backup in attacking dragons. They were going crazy with the stealing and had averaged kills of eight vikings a day. Dagur refused to allow some dragon to end up eating his little brother, and Haggard agreed that they should help. Heather stayed with Oswald on the island, but most of the warriors went with the two acting chiefs.

_"No dragons are ever around here. Odd."_ Dagur contemplated. When they arrived, another attack was in the process of occurring."Try to stay in the blind spots and help them!" Haggard ordered. It was difficult to compose a formal plan for attacks like this. The general idea was kill and not be killed. "Go make sure Hiccup's safe." Haggard told him. It did not take much convincing as Dagur had wanted to, but was unsure if he needed to stay with the warriors.

Dagur found the boy trying, futilely, to lift a sword. Shaking his head, Dagur took Hiccup's arm and put him in an underfloorboard compartment. He stood guard. "Dagur!" came Hiccup's harsh whisper, "Yeah?" "I have to go and stop one of those dragons!" the skinny boy insisted. "Not the best idea, Brother. And especially not with that sword you can't even lift." Dagur told him. He shifted his focus to look at him and saw Hiccup's depressed expression, "What's wrong? You're dad will be fine. Trust me, he's tough." Hiccup shook his head, "I know he will be, but if I don't get one of those dragons, everyone will think I'm weak forever." Dagur could empathize. He suddenly grew cold, "Are those kids still going after you?" Hiccup fiddled with the hatch on the hiding spot, not meeting Dagur's gaze. The older boy growled, "After all this is over I'm going to-" he took a deep breath. It was what Haggard suggested when meditation would take too long to work, "I'm not letting you get killed to prove yourself, Hiccup. Sorry, but I'm not." The younger boy frowned and the hut's door was blown open by a Deadly Nadder.

The dragon shot its magnesium blast at Dagur. He rolled out of the way and threw a dagger into the Nadder's right eye. It roared and shot tail spines. Dagur outmaneuvered three, but the fourth hit him in the leg. He yelled as the poison went through him. The toxins hurt far more than the actual contact. Dagur saw Hiccup run to the dragon to help him. The Nadder heard the clumsy kid and lifted its tail to shoot again. Dagur threw another knife and hit it in the throat. It reeled back, but did not die. Hiccup balked, "Hey over here!" He ran outside and the Nadder followed him.

"Brother!" Dagur shouted. He pulled the spine out his left thigh and ran to find the boy. He looked around, frantically. Hiccup was trying not to stumble as he was running on the hills. Dagur sprinted after the two, bouncing off other dragons on his way-gaining more height with each flying dragon. He caught hold of a Monstrous Nightmare in the air and leapt off onto the Deadly Nadder. Using both of their weights, he pinned it to the ground and thrust the spine into its brain. He breathed heavily, still in Berserker mode. They stopped when they heard a shrill sound. Dagur tackled Hiccup, knocking him out of a pale blast's path.

_"A Nightfury!"_ Dagur thought and ran to where it was going. It was going after the adult vikings and hovered out of sight until some of them hurtled a catapult in its direction. The dragon began sneak up on Stoick. Haggard saw it and threw a mace at the Nightfury. The dragon lunged at the viking and pushed him to the ground, mauling him. Dagur tackled the dragon, but it would not stop. The skin was thick, although the boy was able to cut it on the side of its neck. Shrieking, it turned and glared at him with enmity. Dagur returned the stare, neither backing down.

It prepped a plasma blast to shoot at the boy. Dagur punched it in its lower jaw, closing its mouth and forcing the blast back at the dragon. Enraged, the dragon glowered at him. He seemed to know that the boy's leg had been injured. Dagur had so much adrenaline in him, that he had forgotten. He recalled when-in a flash- the dragon's teeth were tearing through his flesh. The boy yelled in agony and desperately tried to free his leg from the Nightfury's fangs. Stoick heard and hit the dragon with the same mace Haggard had used earlier. With a whimper, it flew away. Dagur looked at his great uncle. He was mutilated. Not wanting to take any chances, he checked his vitals. He tried to push on his chest to bring him back, "Come on, come on! You've got more fight in you, Uncle!"

Stoick came over and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Son. He's gone." Dagur's bottom lip trembled, however he refused to cry in front of his people. Eerily silent, Dagur lifted his uncle and carried him to the ships. The Hairy Hooligans followed him. "We're leaving now." he said, coldly. "Dagur, your men need rest. At least give them until tomorrow morning." Gobber suggested. The boy looked at the Berserkers, they were worn and wounded. "Gothi can help them." Stoick offered, "That's the least we can do." Dagur nodded, absent-mindedly.

Stoick and Gobber stayed longer, after the others left. The chief recalled the boy's injury and took notice. "That's a bad gash, Dagur. Gothi can help that too. Just so you know." "I can take care of it." he remarked and the two left him. Dagur sank down into a chair. He could not even cry, he found. He just felt empty. What would happen now?

_"Why did he have to die a painful demise? It couldn't have been a peaceful sleep death?" _When they returned to Berserker Island, Dagur was first to fire the arrow. Oswald knew better than to contradict him in this regard. This was the catalyst Oswald needed and he took over the mantle again as chief.

**Deranged**

A few years had passed since Haggard's death. Dagur was almost seventeen now and had continued with his meditations. He was still off, but he could control his temper a little better. His obsessive behavior only grew as he, regularly, hunted the Nightfury that killed Haggard. He had gotten close sometimes, but it always escaped and he was never was able to exact revenge. Heather had stepped up a lot on their relationship and was there for him when it came to their dad's neglect and displeasure of him. Ansson was in a lot of battles, so they had few interactions as of late.

Oswald was growing curious of the outside world. "Dad, we could bring warriors and explore all that's out there." Dagur pleaded with him. Oswald was determined to go alone. "We've already discussed this, Dagur." "I know. I'm just figured that if I find a different way of saying it, you'd agree by accident." The teenager chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood. Oswald frowned, "It's not even my normal laugh! I can't have any kind of fun now?" Dagur protested. Oswald did not respond and his son just left.

He went outside and began to meditate. His calming time was cut short when some Berserkers were cheering. They were happy about the return of their hero, Ansson the Abominable. Dagur sneered at the sight of the jerk being beloved by all. He rolled his eyes as he heard Ansson catcall some viking.

"_Can't even be nice to the ladies._" Said lady was not fond of being hollered at like that. And this is when Dagur lost it, entirely. Listening to her speak, he automatically knew it was Heather. "_Oh he did _**not**_ just flirt with my baby sister!" _he fumed. He gunned to where they were.

"Heather, Babe. You've grown a lot since I last saw you." Ansson said, creepily. Heather readied her weapon, "Back off, Ansson or I'll teach you a lesson in manners." He laughed, "As if! The people love me. I can do whatever I want on this island and no one could stop me if they wanted to." he took a threatening step towards her and balked. An ax was an inch from his face. He jumped back and saw Dagur. "Still tryin' to prove you're not dainty, Dainty?" "I think me making your head as a warning sign for enemies'll do the trick." A viking ran to go get the chief.

Ansson started fighting like he normally would, but things were different. Dagur had devoted himself to being the best warrior of the Berserkers and he was. No attack even came close and Dagur countered each one with a swift blow of his own. He enjoyed punching the bully's teeth out and kicking his legs from underneath him. Feeling no more need to prolong the fun, he raised his ax above his head and brought it down.

"Put down that ax, Dagur!" Oswald yelled. Dagur stopped just mere centimeters from the viking's throat. "Get over here now." The chief said, sternly. Growling, Dagur took Heather's hand and brought her with him.

"Heather, would you excuse us?" her father requested. She did as she was asked and went to her room.

Oswald looked at Dagur with rage, it almost disturbed the young viking. "What were you thinking?!" the man yelled, "Nevermind. You weren't thinking. You never do!" he stormed over to Dagur and gave him a hard shove. They boy, instinctively, felt himself start to shrink.

"_I've never seen him this angry before. But, I'm Dagur. I can't cower at anyone."_ He squared his shoulders and stood his ground, "That-that viking," he spat, "was catcalling Heather! He said he could do whatever he wanted and no one could-". "Enough, Dagur! I'm tired of you being a menace! I've never killed as many enemies as you have in your few years of battles. You are so ready to do the most horrifying things to people and that stupid Nightfury." Dagur's demeanor became cold when the dragon was mentioned, "I **will** kill that beast and its flesh shall be used for-" "That's what I'm talking about. Uncle always wanted me to explain things to you. Maybe it's finally time."

Oswald looked Dagur in the eyes, "Your mind is a terrible place that I fear even **trying** to understand. Ylva was afraid Heather was becoming like you. That stress-**you** induced-killed her. I cannot be sure Haggard was **truly** beyond saving, or if your own cruelty turned against him. I thank Odin that you have not harmed my daughter and would bring her with me if I thought it would not be dangerous also."

The Berserker broke the eye contact with Dagur and walked over to his table, placing his palms on it, "How did **I**, Oswald the Agreeable, obtain such a reckless and deranged heir? You're not what I like to think of as a Berserker. You're such a disgrace." he said the last part under his breath.

A lump formed in Dagur's throat. He left the room and Heather saw how upset he looked, "Dagur, are you okay?" He nodded, hastily and kept walking. Not accepting that, his sister went after him. She grabbed his arm and his speed made her slide. He, hesitantly, stopped. "What did he say?" she asked. "I need to cool off." he said, he choked a bit on his words and mentally cursed himself. Heather let him go and watched as he went to his favorite meditation spot.

She loved both her brother and father, but she hated the way Oswald treated Dagur. She knew that she did not know the half of it, but she could tell when her brother would be hurting. Yeah, he was a bit violent and that laugh was disturbing, but that was just him. What he could help, he tried to, and the rest she wished their dad would accept.

Dagur found his way to the spot and punched some dents in a tree. "_Go ahead, Dad. Go to wherever the _**_heck_**_ you want to go so badly. _**I** _won't let Ansson get away with anything and I **finally** won't have to deal with **you** anymore."_ he thought, furiously. He yelled in rage and it scared a bird out of a tree. "Now that was a brash desicion, birdy." he said, mocking his father's voice, "You should stay here and let yourself be hunted instead of protecting yourself or anyone else. That's **obviously** the best option!" he started to laugh. It was one that would have had Stoick, himself, uncomfortable_._

" Dear ol' Mom thought I was the worst possible thing imaginable!" he told any animals that might have been listening, laughing even harder. "Just the **chance** of Heather turning out like me, killed her. Oh, oh and Dad thinks that **I** let Great Uncle Haggard get mauled to death. Imagine the one-eighty that would have been. 'Yes, Mr. Nightfury, **please** eat this great Berserker who is also the only person who's really been there for me since the beginning!'" he said, in an exaggerated way. "Who knows? Maybe I'll go crazier and kill Heather myself. I mean, we got one vote on that outcome." he laughed harder and just continued with this line of sarcasm and hysteria for an hour.

Dagur went back to their house and said almost nothing to Oswald until the day of his departion. "Be safe." he told him, emotionlessly. Oswald returned the statement with the same amount of feeling. He then gave Heather a hug and kiss on her forehead, "I love you. I'll be back in no more than four months." He set sail. Dagur never told his sister any of what had occurred. He was the older sibling and should comfort **her**, not the other way around right?

**Taking care of Business**

Four months had gone by, Dagur was leading the Berserkers well, and had gotten his chieftain tattoos. It was a Berserker tradition that the chief would get blue bearclaw tattoos over the left eye and on the right forearm. He had made it clear that since Oswald was gone, there would be no one to prevent him from killing Ansson. That steered the older viking in the right way and they had little to no confrontations. Heather grew concerned after the fifth month passed. "Dad should have been back by now. Something's happened." she said, worriedly. At this point, Dagur could not have cared less about where his dad was. Or, at least that was what he was trying to convince himself and others he was feeling. Seeing Heather so distraught, beyond a shadow of a doubt, made him agree to send out search parties.

Several weeks went by and there was no trace of Oswald. Dagur was beginning to grow worried that they would leave themselves vulnerable to attacks if they kept sending vikings out left and right. "We might have to stop this soon, Heather. The supplies needed for the voyages are running low. We're sending them out faster than the traders are coming in." Heather looked at him like he had said the most vile thing, "That's our father. We can't just leave him out there to die!" she claimed, with tears forming in her eyes. Dagur sighed, "We at least have to go to Berk first. The treaty needs to be resigned. Plus, there are some rumors that I'd love to get clarification on." She, begrudgingly, complied.

Their ships docked on Berk's port. The Hairy Hooligans looked at them with shock after seeing no Oswald with them. "Dagur, Heather, where's Oswald?" Stoick asked. "We've been trying to find him. Until we do, I've been made chief." Dagur told him. The older chief furrowed his eyebrows. "Well don't throw me a celebratory party or anything." the youth joked, good-naturedly. Stoick smiled, but it quickly turned to worry again, "I'm just wondering where he could be." "We have no idea. We've checked in and out of the archipelago." Heather added.

Hiccup came over to the docks and smiled at his friends. "Brother!" Dagur hugged him, "Guess who has a new moniker?" he gestured to himself, "Introducing Dagur the Deranged!" he frowned, "Where's your leg?" Hiccup chuckled "_As politically correct as always."_ he thought, "I lost it going against the Red Death." The siblings' eyes widened. "So it **is**true." the young chief said, awed. He had quickly noted all the dragons around the island too. "I suppose the dragon army thing is also true?" he sort of asked. Stoick laughed at this, "Far from. More like a dragon club or babysitting." Hiccup scowled at this, "We're working on it." He saw the slight look of panic cross Dagur's face and regretted his remark. "Not that we'd use them in an aggressive way. Just defensive." "Looks like I should sign this treaty before you change your mind." Dagur laughed and Hiccup sighed one of relief.

The young heir, excitedly, showed his pals to the stables. They were received warmly by the other teenagers. Fishlegs was more than happy to see Heather again. "You have a Gronckle?" she asked him. "Yep. This is my baby, Meatlug. Isn't she the cutest thing?" he hugged the dragon as Heather giggled at the spectacle. "Dagur, Dagur!" Snotlout called. "**I**have a Monstrous Nightmare." he said, haughtily. "Hope it's harder to kill than the ones I've gone up against, Snothat." The twins at the name butchering.

Dagur looked at Astrid's dragon, "She's Stormfly." the viking stated. Dagur attempted to avoid scowling at it. He often thought of how that one almost killed Hiccup and put him so far out the way that he was too late to save Haggard. With a forced smile(that resembled a grimace) he walked over to the twins' dragon. "These do the gas stuff right?" They nodded, emphatically, "The biggest booms in the whole archipelago." Tuffnut beamed. "Or **will** be, when we really go all out." Ruffnut added.

"What about you, Brother? Where's your dragon?" the young chief questioned. Hiccup's brow furrowed, "You know he left just as you all were coming in. I'm not really sure where he is. He'll show up sometime soon, though. He never strays too far from me." The Berserkers nodded.

"_I wonder what kind of dragon Brother Hiccup would have. It would be something different, cool. I can't think of any other dragons that could be ridden."_ His musings were interrupted when he saw Snotlout wink at Heather next to him. He, instinctively, reached for his ax and she, gently, stopped him.

After all the interactions were done, the treaty was signed; although Toothless was still nowhere to be found. Hiccup was growing worried and went out to look for him. "Toothless! Where are you, Bud?" he called out. Toothless sauntered over, ears back. "There you are. Where'd you go and why did you leave?" Toothless made a low sound, sounding like "Sorry". They headed back, but before reaching the hall, Toothless stopped and growled. "Come on, Toothless. It's just my friends in there." The dragon gave him a sassy look, "Yes, I actually had friends before you. In fact, they were the **only** vikings who liked me."

Hiccup thought about how they never made fun of how small he was or clumsy he could be in training. Heather was always really sweet and Dagur was always one to defend him from the teens that ended up becoming his friends. He was fun too, if a bit too wild sometimes.

He half pleaded with and half dragged the dragon over to the hall. Toothless immediately growled again and went back to their house. Hiccup sighed and entered alone. "**My** dragon doesn't feel very sociable right now. Tomorrow you two can see the riders and their dragons train." Everyone agreed and it was set

**Domesticated**

Toothless watched, hiding as the riders were in top form as they demomstrated their skills. Except Snotlout and Hookfang, of course. They were too busy trying to show off to the Berserkers.

_"Heather is so pretty. She's totally into the Snot. Yep, probably will be Mrs. Snotlout Jorgenson in a few years. And what a cool brother-in-law I'll get. Dagur's **way** better than these losers I'm surrounded with. As soon as I show them how great I am, they'll love me!" _Too fixated on this, neither paid attention and missed a target.

They almost hit Stormfly who, spooked, shot spines that Meatlug had to avoid. Out of control, she hit Barf and Blech that fell from the sky right above Hiccup. "Brother!" Dagur charged to move him out the way and balked. A black dragon came out of nowhere and pushed the boy to safety. "Thanks, Bud." Hiccup said, gratefully. Toothless smiled his silly smile and was knocked off his friend. Hiccup sat up in haste.

"You won't be mauling any more vikings, Nightfury!" he yelled, as he lifted his ax. "Dagur don't! That's my dragon!" Hiccup shouted. The Berserker looked at him with shock. "H-he's what?" Hiccup went over to Toothless and rubbed his head, "He was just protecting me the Barf and Belch." "_That should cover everything"_ Hiccup figured. He looked at the Berserkers. Heather worriedly was looking at her brother who was completely silent.

Dagur was blind with rage and tremors shook his body. "_I finally have this monster in my grasp and Hiccup doesn't want me to kill it."_ he fumed. "What's wrong?" Fishlegs asked. "Our great uncle wa-" Heather started and had to stop as she felt herself getting choked up, "Killed by a Nightfury." Dagur ended. The group gasped and Hiccup looked at his dragon. "That can't be. Are you sure?" he inquired. "Do you really think I wouldn't pay attention to something like that?! That I just watched from the sidelines as he killed my uncle?" Dagur yelled. Everyone jumped at his rage. Seeing this, he calmed down a bit, "If you really don't think it was yours, look on the right side of his neck. There should be a scar from my knife." The young heir checked Toothless and low and behold, Dagur was right.

Hiccup pulled away from the Nightfury, "Toothless." he said, disappointed, "The Red Death was controlling all the dragons. Forcing them to bring back food or else they'd be food." he explained. "'Food' should not include people. Not like he even brought anything back." Dagur countered, "_Or maybe that's what I was supposed be."_ he pondered."He's got a point Hiccup." Snotlout stated, "I mean, I take food from you guys **all** the time. It doesn't mean I kill you all for it." The other riders glared at him. "What? Do you **want** me to start now?" he volunteered.

Hiccup went over to Dagur, "I know that must've been a terrible thing to go through, but Toothless isn't like that anymore." The dragon kept snarling at Dagur, who snarled back. "Not helping, Bud." Hiccup said through the side of his mouth. The dragon stopped and, sarcastically, tried to look his cutest. The boy sighed, "He's unbelievable, but he won't hurt anyone if I tell him not to." The Berserker scowled amd left the arena.

Later that day, Dagur's eyes twinkled, "Hey, Hiccup?" he started, "Can you train **any**kind of dragon?" Hiccup thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. Possibly." "Can you train a Skrill for me?" Dagur questioned, excitedly. "Uh, I've never even seen one before. They might have been hunted to extinction." Hiccup responded. Dagur's face fell, "Well, if you see one can you let us know?" Hiccup agreed.

A couple months later, Mulch and Bucket came back with some interesting news. "We found a dragon in the ice!" Mulch exclaimed, "A really big dragon!" Bucket chimed in. Hiccup's curiousity got the better of him and the group went out to find said dragon. They blasted enough shots to make sure they could see inside. The teens gasped, "A Skrill."

**To Train or Not To Train**

Dagur stared, amusedly, at a Terrible Terror having difficulty entering their borders. It wobbled as it flew and looked disoriented. "_Is that something on its neck?"_ he wondered. He saw it fly upwards and land at the northernmost part of the island. Dagur went up and saw there was a paper tied to the dragon. It hopped over to him and he took the letter, "Um, thanks." he said, unsure of proper dragon messenger protocols. It flew away.

"'To Dagur the Deranged,' I love that title," Dagur awed, "'We have found a Skrill.'" He almost dropped the letter as he rushed down to where his sister was. "Heather! Hiccup and the others found a Skrill!" he cheered and laughed, "Imagine our luck!" Heather could not find it in herself to be too happy, "_Yeah, we can find some dragon, but not our father." _she thought, unhappily. Her brother noticed this and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "We'll find Dad too. Odin's giving us good fortune." he smiled, encouragingly. She took a deep breath and smiled back.

Dagur leapt off the ship before it even stopped. "Where is it?" he asked. "Hello, Hiccup." Heather offered. Hiccup chuckled, "Hi guys. We have it in the arena. Snotlout and the twins are watching it." he saw both of their faces turn to grimaces, "Yeah, that might not have been my best idea." "They're going to kill it!" Dagur said, running to the arena.

An enormous explosion occurred just as the trio arrived. "They did it."Snotlout said and the twins complained about him stealing their plan. Dagur could not have cared less, if **one** of them had hurt his baby, they would **all** pay for that. As the smoke cleared he saw the dragon stand at full height. The chief beamed, "Well, get to it, Brother. Skrilly's not going to train himself." Hiccup sighed and, carefully, walked over to the dragon, hand extended. In response, it snapped at the teenager.

"Maybe we should put it in water first to calm it down some." Dagur suggested. "Why would that help? If anything, bathing makes us **more** upset." Tuffnut inquired, "Because, Boynut, Skrills can't channel lightning when they're in water." Dagur explained. "That makes sense. Water's not a conductor for electricity." Fishlegs added. "Right you are, Fishy." Dagur said.

They put it in some water and it stopped being aggressive, but it became lethargic. Various methods for training were utilized and none worked. "It might be untrainable, Dagur. We've tried everything so far." Hiccup told him. "There's got to be some way to bring it back to Berserker Island without it wanting to shoot everyone full of lightning." Dagur thought, aloud. "It's too dangerous, Brother. Maybe we should just let it go." Heather offered. After much scowling and grumbling on Dagur's part, it was agreed they would release it back into the wild.

"_I'm not letting it go so easily."_ he thought. Discreetly, he crept off and followed the dragon. It was hard to track, but he found its general direction and waited for it to get some water. He heard a distressed roar and went to the sound. Chains were pulling the Skrill down to the ground. Looking over the rocky mountain, he saw Alvin the Treacherous.

**Recovery**

Rage boiled inside Dagur as he witnessed his Skrill being dragged into the Outcast ship. He wanted to charge over and take each one of their heads off, but he had to be clever. He was badly outnumbered and winning was a slim chance. "_Plus, if I go down, who'd be able to free my baby from Alvin's **vulgar** grasp?" _he pondered. With one last look, he went back to Berk.

"Dagur, where have you been?" Fishlegs asked. "Alvin's got my Skrill." he stated, "I mean, technically he's not _yours_-" the boy stopped short seeing the older viking's glare, "But we are working on that." he added, nervously. "They don't know a thing about Skrills. They, also, don't know that **we** know about them having him." Dagur told the rest. "Or," Tuffnut began, "they know, we know, they-" "**I**know, we don't have time for this!" Dagur said, angrily. Tuff stayed quiet.

Dagur pulled out a map of Outcast Island, "Why do you have that?" Astrid questioned, "Never know when you might need to expand a bit." Dagur responded with a, crazy, twinkle in his eyes. He laughed, maniacally, and stopped to continue, "Heather, you can go with Vorg and ten other Berserkers around the back end. Herald and eight warriors can split up and go on the sides, and I'll head up the side front area." "Alone?" she asked. "And what about us? We're good help in fights." Snotlout mentioned. Dagur looked at him, "Yes, while I hope your presicion 'skills' have improved since last time, I'm not taking any chances."

Snotlout looked down in embarrassment. "Snotlout **is**right, though. We can be backup if nothing else." Hiccup offered. Dagur thought about it, "Fine. And to answer your question, Heather, yes I'd be alone. If Skrilly's not guarded that well, I should be able to sneak in and handle it myself. Personally, I'd rather have all our resources replinished before we start full out wars."

Dagur crept around Outcast vikings. "_Not the most observant, are we?"_ he thought, happily. He made his way, easily, to where they kept the Skrill. "_Guess all my stealth training has paid off."_ He saw Alvin and some skinny, older viking. He was about to hit the Skrill with his cane. Dagur mentally "ommed", "_Skrilly's a strong dragon. Don't blow your cover by beating the old guy's skull in." _he had to tell himself.

Fortunately, sort of, he did not have to do anything to stop the viking. "Alvin!" an Outcast called, surprising the old man and making him forget what he was about to do. "What is it?" the Outcast leader asked, irritably. "Hiccup and the dragon riders. They're attacking our men!" "_Seriously, Brother! I knew I should have left them on Berk!" _Dagur fumed.

Getting overly excited, Snotlout had done his usual cheer and Hookfang ignited. This all alerted the vikings to their presences and they were forced to attack. "_Guess there's no reason _**not**_ to kill this guy now."_ Dagur was about to jump out and fight Alvin and kill the other guy, but Alvin said something interesting. "Mildew, secure the eggs!" he ran towards the battlefield. "_Eggs?" _the young viking wondered.

Dagur followed Mildew into the lower part of the island. He did not know what kinds of eggs they were, "_These look funny. This guy better know what they are."_ He stopped hiding, scaring Mildew half to death. He grabbed the viking by the shirt and lifted him, "What kind of dragon eggs are these? You've got five seconds!" Mildew stuttered and stammered, "Why does that never work?" Dagur asked aloud. Finally regaining his composure, Mildew spoke, "I don't have to tell you anything. Alvin's got my side on all this. Take it up with him." Mildew said, arrogantly.

"Oh, all right. I'll guess just ask Alvin." Dagur looked around, exaggerately, "Well, it seems like he's not here. So that leaves you, alone here with me." he smiled. Mildew gulped, "I supppose there **are** times when secrets should be shared. Those are Whispering Death eggs. They're going to tear Berk to pieces. Berserker Island too." he gave a sickening grin. Dagur raised his ax and introduced it to Mildew's torso.

Dagur went back up top and helped the riders and his people fight off the Outcasts. More than once, he saw Hiccup cringe at his violent methods. Deep down the chief was getting worried. He knew that he had told Heather to go to the back, but since the whole thing had gone awry anyway, she should be somewhere in sight. His eyes scanned the area for her and saw nothing.

Heather was fighting some vikings when Alvin arrived. He eyed her, "You're the Berserker chief's daughter, aren't you, girl?" Her eyes narrowed. "You look a lot like him. A shame you haven't been able to find him these last few months." he said with mock sadness. "How did you know about that?" she questioned. "I have my ways." She charged at Alvin, who disappeared in the smoke caused by the explosions.

Dagur found her, "Sis! Are you okay." She gave a numb nod. "_He'll think I'm stupid to believe Alvin. I'll handle this, quietly."_ she thought.

Now that the battle had ended, Dagur glared at each rider. "Do I even need to ask who ruined my plan, Snotnose?" All eyes fell on Snotlout. He chuckled, sheepishly, "Everyone makes mistakes." Dagur took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Alvin's keeping some Whispering Death eggs down there. Some **Mildew** guy told me and boasted. Heh, might've let him live if he hadn't done that last part." He received horrified looked from the riders. "A friend of yours or something?" he asked. "Not at all. It's just a lot to take in that he was that much of a traitor and is dead now." Hiccup said for the others.

In the heat of the battle, the Skrill had flown off to Thor knows where. Heather paid no mind to that as she had a new rescue mission she was planning.

**Impulsiveness**

Heather just knew that Alvin had their father and there was no way she would let him continue to be subject to whatever torment Alvin had planned. She refrained from telling Herald or Vorg-those two would tell Dagur in a heartbeat. She did not even tell her best friend Astrid or any of the other riders. They would just tell her no too. With her, she took a small group of Berserkers. "Now, we're going to go in there and take Oswald back." she told them.

She had seen her brother prepare battle strategies, but never paid too close attention. They went in the underground way that Dagur had found. Creeping along the caves, they took out several Outcasts, but not before one sounded an alarm. "Berserkers!" he bellowed. Alvin came out with more vikings. There were more than she had recalled from last time. The efforts of the Berserkers were valiant, but she could only find fellow young vikings. They were the only ones rebelious enough to oppose authority and close enough to their own parents to understand.

Soon, all except her were taken captive. Heather managed to escape on a small boat-it was the only one that had been spared by the Outcasts. She returned home to retrieve reinforcements. She found her brother being bombarded with panicking parents. "We will find all your children and bring them back here safely " he assured them. Seeing Heather he asked, "Where have**you** been? You don't have anything to do with the missing vikings do you?"

Heather told him everything. He stared at her, silently, for a moment. "I can almost assure you, Alvin doesn't have Dad." He sat back against his chair with a sigh. "Heather, you **know** I'd love to slash Alvin's smug look off his face, but we literally can't afford that right now." "I know." she said, quietly. "Do you? Because I **thought** that I had mentioned it, but then you went and attacked them. Possibly unprovoked too! Heck, I'd start a war with us! But we don't have time to go into all of that right now. Alvin's either got a ransom prepared or they're already gone." Dagur told her. They went to Outcast Island, "Where are my Berserkers, Alvin?" he asked. "In my dungeon." Alvin chuckled, "Not even viking enough to come fight anymore, eh?" Dagur's right eye twitched at the comment, "Seems like there was a misunderstanding. I apologize for any injuries that happened because of it."

Alvin frowned, "I don't much like when I get called out for things I **didn't** even do. Tell that sister of yours that I ain't got your ol' man. I know that's why she came in here like that. **I** might tell her myself. Someone's gotta pay for what happened here and I don't mean in gold." "What exactly do you want in payment?" Alvin paused, "I'm a simple viking, who ever does me wrong I want dead. Actually no, that's too fast and won't make up for the lives lost here today. Whoever was responsible, I want locked up in my dungeon."

Dagur contemplated this, "For how long?" "Indefinitely." came the immediate response, "A bit..permanent, don't you think?" Dagur tried to lessen the punishment. "That's the idea." "How about a month?" Dagur attempted, Alvin shot a glare, "You went high, I'm shooting low." the boy defended. They bantered back and forth with things as far apart as fifty years and one year. They agreed on three years and that the impending prisoner would arrive the subsequent day for their time. The children were returned to their parents too.

Heather was a nervous wreck. She knew her brother was furious at her, "We could call on Berk to help us attack." "When Alvin retreated, him made it so we couldn't get in to get those eggs. I wouldn't be surprised if he has some adolescent ones-which would be enough to level both our islands. I'm not involving them just so they can die. I messed up last time **by** involving them." he explained.

Heather really did not want to be locked up on Outcast Island for three consecutive years. A silent tear fell from her eye. Dagur saw her, "Why are you so scared?" he asked. She looked at him, shocked, "Because I'm going to be at Alvin's mercy for three years. It was all my fault." "Well, yes it was your fault." he agreed, "But you're not going to be imprisoned tomorrow." "I'm not?" she inquired, stupified. "Nope. Don't worry, just come tomorrow with the rest of us." A load felt as though it had been lifted off her shoulders. She gave her brother a big hug and he nuzzled his head on her shoulder. He gave her his signature smile, "Now get some rest. You've had a long day and it's late."

He juggled his daggers and threw them at a target, "Perfect as always." he said, contentedly. He sat on his father's throne for a few minutes and went to bed.

**Conseq****uences**

The ships arrived at Outcast Island and Alvin was awaiting them. "Now who's going to be my new prisoner?" he questioned. Dagur sraightened his back, "I am." he said. A few Berserkers' jaws dropped while the rest's did in their minds. "What?" Heather asked in a harsh whisper. "You? From what I saw, it was the girl who decided to come here." Alvin said, suspiciously. "That might be so, but **I'm** the chief, am I not? So any actions committed by my people reflect on me. Therefore," he said, dramatically, "I shall take responsibility."

"Dagur, no. You can't do this." Heather pleaded. "Sorry, Sis, I just did. Tell our baby bro and his friends I'll see them soon." He gave her one more hug and a laugh, "Please stay safe, Heather. I love you." "I love you too." she said as tears flowed, freely, from her eyes. Dagur stepped off the boat and was grabbed by the Outcasts and had his hands chained together behind his back. They acted as if he were about to transform into a dragon if they loosened their grips. They all went inside, leaving the Berserkers dumbfounded and heartbroken. "Start the course back for Berserker Island." Vorg ordered, knowing Heather could not speak, properly, then.

Once inside, Alvin grabbed Dagur by the front of his shirt and lifted up to his eye level. "What's your game, Boy? I know you're crazy. The whole archipelago does." He stated. "Ooh, my reputation preceeds me." Dagur laughed. Alvin brought the chief's face close to his own, "We'll see how that does for ya here." he released his hold and let him fall back to the ground. Dagur caught his balance and stayed upright, much to Alvin's annoyance.

His helmet and belt were removed and he was brought to the dungeons and shoved in a cell. "Make yourself at home. It's your new one now." the Outcast called as he left. "_Nice how they took ty helmet and left the chains." _he mused, sarcastically. He leaned against the wall, uncomfortably and thought of different ways he could find his beloved Skrill after being free.

He was brought out of his thoughts by another prisoner, "Kid! You won't last in here for one day." he said. Dagur scowled at him and went back to what he was thinking. Another sound interrupted him He turned, angrily, and saw Alvin entering the cell. He had a sword in his hand. Dagur swallowed hard, "Need help inspecting that? You could call me an expert on weapons." he smiled, broadly. Alvin kept walking towards him, forcing the young viking to step backwards. "_I hate being backed in."_ he thought. He smiled at Alvin, who snarled in return. "Where are the weak points in Hiccup's dragons? And good places to attack Berk and Berserker Island?" he interrogated. "I'm not a dragon rider, myself. Wish, but **that** kinda got messed up. I couldn't tell you a thing about them or Berk for that matter. I hadn't planned on attacking Berk **or** Berserker Island, so again I can't tell you how to go about doing things."

Alvin frowned and pointed the sword at Dagur's neck, "I used to have someone on the inside to tell me these things. Don't anymore. You wouldn't happen to know how, would you?" "Can't say I remember you introducing me to any inside viking." Dagur remarked. Alvin left the cell for a couple minutes and returned with Mildew's helmet. He let it fall to the dirt and yoked Dagur by the braid over to see. Hand on hair, he shoved the viking's head down to it, "Remember him now?" "A bell's beginning to ring, I think." Dagur told him.

Enraged with his lightheartedness, Alvin punched him in the gut and across the face. The boy got caught by his head and was slammed, face first, into the cell wall. "Don't worry, Boy. I might beat some sense into you." Alvin stated, enthusiastically. He slashed his back with the sword, enticing a yell of pain. Alvin grabbed Dagur by his throat and squeezed. The viking winced, "Tell me about Hiccup and the riders." Dagur laughed a muffled laugh in response. Alvin cut the right side of his face. It went over his eyebrow and all over his cheek.

"Still so happy?" Alvin stabbed him in the side. Not far enough to kill, just meant for torture. Dagur struggled to bring in air and began to wheeze. Alvin tore some hair from the sides of his head and kicked him in the back. Despite it all, Dagur gave him a painfilled smile. With a frustrated yell, Alvin kicked him in the face and left. "Don't expect any food this week." the Outcast told him. Dagur laid there in pain, thanking Thor that he had taken this instead of his little sister.

Alvin would come in and attack him whenever felt like doing so, and his goons accompanied him to tag team sometimes. Every weapon of Alvin's was used on the young viking, from whips to maces. Dagur was leaning against the wall again. He had lost a lot of blood and really could have used a drink of water. Alvin kicked a piece of stale bread at him, "Not strong enough to last a mere five weeks with no food?" "_Heh, shows what you know." _Dagur thought. The only thing about his cell that he did not mind was that there was a nice shadow in there. Simple sounding yes, but none of the Outcasts could see him train. He could feel himself getting faster, more agile, and stronger. He trained even harder than he had when his uncle used to stop him.

His chains were finally removed,"Not like you're a threat or anything! If you want any water, tell me about the Berserker defences." Alvin told. Dagur made a face at him and laughed. Alvin pushed him to the ground and brought up his ax. He cut his braid off at its base. "Only chiefs deserve to have longer hair. This suits you **much** better." The viking glared at him, "Only chiefs! Haha, good one Alvy." With a huff, Alvin left. "_Come on, three years. Daddy's gonna need you to go a little faster for him." _he thought.

**Three Years in the Making**

Three years went by slower than they ever had for Dagur. "I suppose you think that you're free to go." Alvin said, grumpily. "Well, that was our agreement." Dagur reminded him. "True, but just as you must keep true to your moniker, I must mine! You're gonna rot here in this jail until the day I die, Dagur." "Fair enough." Dagur retorted, calmly.

He had known that Alvin would not just let him go. That was why he had trained so hard. One way or another, he **was** going to leave. That night, he took a key that one of the Outcasts had slipped him and broke out. "The prisoner's esca-" he killed the guard and stole his club. Using this, he beat the other guards to death. More came again and he took swords and beheaded them and mutilated them. Each one had done something terrible to him and that was their punishment.

Lastly, there was Alvin himself. Alvin had done and attempted things Dagur would force himself to forget. "You know your problem, Alvin? You're too stiff, too slow. You need to loosen up and laugh." Dagur let out a deranged cackle. As the older viking raised his weapon, the younger plunged his sword into his chest. He clubbed Alvin's knees out from under him, maced him in the back, and brought an ax down on his neck. He laughed again as he left, stealing a boat and heading back to Berserker Island.

"Heather! There's an Outcast ship coming to our borders!" Vorg called. Heather, excitedly, ran over and looked. It was too far to see, but she made out a lone figure pulling up to their docks. She went up and saw a muscular man in torn clothing (that clearly would not have fit either way), with short, spiky hair, and a bad scar on his face. He, also, had tattoos on his left eye and right arm, green eyes and red hair.

Heather ran over to him and hugged him, tears from relief coming to her eyes."I didn't know if I'd ever see you again." she cried into his shoulder. She regained her composure and stood up straight. "Look at you.You look like the warrior I knew you'd become." Dagur said, proudly. Trying not to harp on the scars Heather said, "And look at how muscular you've gotten. And trying to grow a beard." she complimented him. "We have to send word to Hiccup and the others!" she took his hand and ran into the house.

"Do you want to guess what I have now?" Heather asked Dagur. "A new head to mount on the wall?" he conjectured. "Nope, a dragon." His face brightened, "Nice. What kind, what name, what's its most lethal attack?" "She's a Razorwhip, her name's Windshear, and her most lethal attack is that her tail can cut through anything!" Her brother cheered, "Did Hiccup help you train her?" She nodded, "I don't want to distract you too much, go change into some clothes that aren't falling off." Dagur went to his room. "_Definitely going to need some new armor._" he thought. He went to the market and they were more than happy to give their returned chief some new clothes. They tried not to bombard him with too many questions as the older vikings looked him over. Some of the viking lassies looked him over too. He went back to his house and plopped down in a chair.

"I need a throne of my own and you do too, Sis. I haven't seen one for you." he yawned. "Get some rest, Brother." Heather told him, caringly. He had bags under his eyes and the next day she would make sure he had proper nurishment. Not that he would not ensure that, himself, but she felt she-at the very least-owed him that much.

That night, Heather went to go check Windshear. She jumped when she saw a figure leaning against a wall, "Dagur? What are you doing up?" He was breathing, heavily, "Not much. Just-uh-wanted to grab a drink." he gestured to the mug in his hand. She walked closer and saw how tired her brother looked. He was a bit pale too. "Well, are you about to go back to sleep?" She asked. "Don't think so. Hey, where are **you** going anyway?" he questioned. "I'm going to check on my dragon." "Can I come? You could introduce me." he requested. "Sure."

They went up to the stables and found Windshear, patiently, waiting to be groomed. "Ooh" Dagur cooed. After a little bit, Heather could no longer refrain from asking, "Why are you **really** up right now?" Dagur stopped running his hand along the dragon's side. "What's it to you?" he snapped. His eyes lowered and he sighed, "Sorry. It's a big adjustment from Outcast Island to here, but I'll work hard to remember it's you and not them." Heather noted that he still avoided her question, although she let it go. _"He'll tell me when he's ready_." she figured.

**Catching up**

The Berserkers descended to Berk's shore(Dagur had wanted to see how things had changed). He saw how dragons had become a big staple of Berk's culture as they walked. Hiccup came over to them. He paused, slightly, when seeing how different his friend looked. Dagur gave him a bone-crushing hug, "Good to know you haven't changed too much." It was weird for him to see Dagur like this. He looked so different and yet, he had those same facial expressions. Dagur tried to smile at Toothless. There were still some hard feelings.

Heather went to find the others and Hiccup went serious, "We were all really worried when Heather told us what happened. How'd you hold up?" Dagur gave a shrug, "I'm still here." "That was a really brave thing you did. To take the fall for her like that, I mean, we feared the worst. Hiccup stated, sincerely."I'd do it again, **anytime**, if it meant Heather would be okay. I would never want her to experience something like that." Dagur told him.

Most of the riders tried to contain their surprise. "Wow, Dagur? We thought you were dead!" Snotlout said. Astrid and Fishlegs cringed, "What he means to say is, we know how ruthless Alvin is and were worried." Fishlegs softened the statement, "Eh, he's fine." Dagur assured him, referring to Snotlout, "Can't say I blame you, but it takes **a lot** to get rid of me." he laughed and suddenly frowned.

The team grew wary, "I like your scar. It's cool." Ruffnut said, admiringly, and walked over to him."You're not as tall as I figured you'd be. You used to **tower** over Hiccup and now you're shorter." her brother added. Dagur smirked and Ruff answered him. "Well, dear Brother, when one is not given the proper nutrients through food and sunshine," "They cannot, properly, grow and develop!" Tuff realized. "Took the words right out my mouth. I wasn't quite given a chief's banquet nor the opportunity to take nice walks along the shore during my stay." Dagur divulged, lightly. Heather's face was sad and Astrid took her arm and brought her behind a building.

"Heather, your brother's okay. Scarred up a bit, but okay. You should be happy." she told the Berserker. "I'm trying to be, Astrid. You can't even begin to understand how I'm feeling. I-I thought I had lost the last person in my immediate family. Not just that, but that**I** had caused it to happen." her eyes started to glisten. Astrid put a hand on her shoulder, "You did what you thought you needed to do to protect your family and your brother did the same."

Heather still was upset, "I can't even imagine what he went through during those three years. And is it just me or does he seem a little more...off now?" she asked. Astrid paused, "I haven't seen enough to tell you. Don't forget that he's always been that way." They returned to the group.

"What I can't believe is that Alvin actually kept up his end of the bargain." Fishlegs said. Dagur smiled, "Not at all. I knew from the start that he'd keep me there forever if he could." Eyebrows rose, "Then, how are you here?" Astrid questioned. "Let's just say, you won't have to worry about any more Outcasts." he laughed. "You, you know?" Hiccup inquired. "Saying it won't hurt you, Brother. I killed them all. They are in a place less welcoming than Valhalla. Oh it was great! I just ran one **all** the way through and-" Dagur stopped, seeing the horrified looks on Hiccup's and Fishlegs's faces. He went over to the Twins and Snotlout, who were enjoying the story, "I'll tell you the rest later." he promised.

Walking into the Hall, Stoick smiled at his son's friends. "Welcome back, Dagur. You should know that Heather has taken very good care of the Berserkers." he told him. "But, I'll admit that I might have missed you a little bit." Gobber said, teasingly. "I missed all you guys too. Make any brand new weapons?" Dagur asked. Gobber beamed, "Of course! I made a tool to clean dragon teeth **and** wipe a viking's leg off." "Ohooho! You've**got** to show me!" Dagur requested. "Right this way." The viking started. The Berk chief stopped them, "Hold on a second, Gobber. I do have a few questions for him."

Stoick gave a look to the others that indicated he wanted them to leave. "I'll get the arrangement ready." Gobber said to the Berserker. They left and Stoick motioned to a chair. "Does Alvin know anything about our weak points?" he questioned, seriously. Dagur's jaw set, "Not one iota. Wouldn't matter either way, though." Stoick's eyebrow rose and Dagur laughed, "He won't be attacking **anyone**now." The older chief's eyes widened and he shifted, uncomfortably, as the laugh continued. Instantaneously, Dagur stopped.

"How **are** you, Son?" Stoick inquired. The young man gave a weak smile, "Better than ever! Can't you tell?" the Hairy Hooligan leader looked, sadly, at the Berserker. "No, huh?" Dagur sighed, "Well I'll just try harder." he whispered to himself. "I know that you, no doubt, used your healers from Berserker Island, but do you want to see Gothi? She can help heal people in many ways." Stoick divulged. "Nope, I'll pass on that. Thanks anyway." The viking rose and placed a hand on Dagur's shoulder. Accidentally, Dagur tensed at the contact. "This is less a question than a firm request, Dagur. Your people need a sound leader. Hiccup and Gobber will show you where Gothi is."

Anger boiled inside of Dagur. _"How dare he try to order me! I'm not having anyone trying to do that anymore! But he's trying to help, so don't attack him. Calm down, Dagur; calm down."_ Dagur took a deep breath and forced a smile. It was only, slightly, more disturbing than his usual one.

Self-consciously he found Gobber and Hiccup, "See? Impressive aren't they?" The weapon making viking said, teeming with pride. "To say the least!" Dagur grinned, then grew somber, "Um, Gobber?" "Yeah?" "C-could you show me where Gothi is?" he asked, sheepishly. "Oh, yah. I gotta stay there with you, though. She doesn't speak. Just writes what she wants to tell you and it's illegible for everyone, but me and Hiccup. Occassionally, you could brush up on your Gothi." he told the heir. "Did my dad suggest this?" Hiccup questioned. "Yeah." Dagur remarked, briskly.

The trio found Gothi and Gobber knocked on the door, "Gothi! I've got someone for you." In a few moments, the older lady opened the door and looked at them. She raised an eyebrow and pointed at the Berserker. "I'm Dagur the Deranged. I'm the chief of the Berserkers and don't think we've met before now." he introduced. Gothi shook her head and wrote in the dirt. "She says, 'I know who you are. I made sure you were okay when your parents brought you over as a baby. I can see that your mind is where I thought it would be." Gobber translated and frowned, "That's not very nice, Gothi. He's a good guy." he defended the chief.

Gothi rolled her eyes and kept writing, "She says to meditate." "_So glad that I could come all the way up here to hear a repeat of what I already now!" _Dagur fumed. "She says, '**Your** meditation is clearly not working and stop fuming or I won't help you.'" The chief's eye widened with surprise, "'You need more help than you want to accept. Your scars should show you that you can't handle everything alone.'" Gobber translated again.

Dagur turned red from embarrassment and subsequently rage. He said a quick chant and calmed down, giving Gothi a smug smile. Gothi tried to wack him with her cane, but he dodged. "She says that you're still angry, though and that you should find someone to confide in." "Well, thank you for your help." Dagur said, through gritten teeth and trying to sound genuine.

They left her house and went back to the main part of the village. Dagur stayed, relatively, quiet for most of the night. He was thinking about what Gothi had said. She was right. He **was** a ball of rage and refused to let anyone else enter his little world of pain. He could not even get a good night's rest. How much baggage could he keep stacked up before there was an overload? "_Guess I'll have to find out_."

**Reptiles**

The next day, Dagur had one thing on his mind. Dragons. He went to Hiccup, "I know the Skrill thing didn't work out, but could you help me train another dragon?" "Sure." Hiccup said. It had been a while since he last trained a dragon, or found any new dragon at all. They looked at the options and none of them impressed Dagur. They went past a Gronckle, a Hideous Zippleback, a Deadly Nadder, and a Monstrous Nightmare. "Too small and slow, nice metal, though; cool explosions, but too heady; hot fire check, but not loving that obvious blind spot; aannd big and crazy, but too big and not maneuvery enough." Dagur said.

"I guess there aren't any Razorwhips around here?" Dagur sighed. Hiccup shook his head. "It's gotta be something cool, new preferably. I suppose that I'll wait until we find one like that. Too bad that Speed Stingers are so small."

A few months past and the riders had gone to the Edge. Dagur and Heather had visited them, but could not stay. They had to make sure Berserker Island was secure. Soon they received word that Viggo and the dragon hunters were going after a Skrill.

The Berserkers flew in on Windshear. "Viggo can stop a lot of dragons if he controls that Skrill." Hiccup explained, "If we go over and find it first, we'll be able to bring it back." Dagur was not liking that idea, "If Viggo's as smart as you say, we could end up **leading** him to Skrilly. I say we find this Rykie and blow him to pieces. From what it sounds like, he's the battle leader and if he goes down, the hunters won't have someone keeping them under control. They'll be easier to pick apart and at least one of them will crack and tell us where Viggo is."

Hiccup frowned, "But what about the Skrill?" "Hiccup, my baby can be found after all danger's out the way." Dagur told him. "But we don't kill, Dagur." Hiccup said, firmly. "Well, sometimes you have to adjust." the chief said, looking him in the eye. Astrid stood with Hiccup, though the others were hesitant. "Maybe we shouldn't just **go** right to the Skrill, Hiccup. I mean, that's been an issue before." Fishlegs said. His friend looked shocked, "You want to kill off the riders just like that?" Hiccup snapped his fingers to emphasize. "No, I just-" "I believe our dear Fishlegs was saying that while finding the Skrill first would be a most joyous event, being outsmarted my Viggo again would be a most **tragic**event_." _Tuffnut translated.

"You're acting like my plans have been awful." Hiccup protested. Dagur rose to speak and Toothless went between the two. The chief paled and glared at the dragon. Brightening he asked, "Are we going to stop these hunters or just annoy them to death? I'm not trying to usurp your position, Brother. That Skrill's powerful and I just don't want you guys getting killed." "I know. But I am confident in this plan." Hiccup said. "

They flew to where the Skrill had been frozen. Dagur had a confused expression. "We put it in here while you were in jail." Hiccup explained. "You just imprisoned it." Dagur commented, quietly and surprised. "We had to," Fishlegs defended, having heard him, "It was too risky to let Alvin get his hands on him." They started working on melting enough ice to get the dragon out.

"All right, up nice and steady." Hiccup directed Snotlout and Astrid. Hookfang fell from the sky and Snotlout screamed as he plummetted to the icy ground. A dragon root arrow had pierced the dragon's flesh. "Hunters!" Heather shouted.

**Attack**

Troups of hunters came up the sides of the mountains. It pained Dagur to see the riders shoot at the villains instead of cealing their fates. There were too many hunters and they were beginning to haul up the Skrill. "Heather, slice the ice around the Skrill so it can get free." She gave him a doubtful look, but did as he said. After a few precise strokes, the Skrill freed itself with a burst of electricity. Dagur laughed, derangedly, "There's my baby!"

The Skrill shot up the hunters, incapacitating them, immediately. More vikings came up with bows and metal weapons, "Drop me off." Dagur requested. Heather flew down and her brother leapt off Windshear. An arrow came a mere foot from the Skrill before Dagur caught it. He tackled a hunter and stabbed him in the face with the arrow. He brought out his ax and took out each hunter that was attempting to attack the dragon.

Hunters coated the mountain, "Go, Skrilly! Save yourself." Dagur told the dragon. It looked at him and stayed. The Skrill fired at any hunter that came up to Dagur or himself. The Berserker smiled with an almost innocent joy. "You get the ones on the left and I'll take the ones on the right. Seems to be an even number." As the riders tried to take out the ships, the chief-dragon teamup took out the vikings on the land.

Soon enough, the riders and Berserkers came out victorious. "We did it!"Dagur hugged his new friend. The riders regarded him with awe. The chief stopped hugging the dragon to scold them, "And how many, roughly, were spared and allowed to go tell Viggo about Skrilly?" "Probably no less than fifty. Ugh, there's gonna a **lot** of hunters charging in here now." Tuffnut realized. The team frowned at him. "Luckily, when they**do** return, they'll find nothing." Dagur said, cooly. The riders eyed him, suspiciously. "Don't think I'd leave here without bringing my Skrilly back with me. I've got to think of another name for you. What about Deathkiller?" the Skrill roared, happily, "Deathkiller it is!"

"You don't know how to fly yet, so maybe we should head back to the edge first and teach you." Hiccup suggested. "That plan is, significantly, better than your last one." Dagur remarked. They arrived at their base with the dragon following behind them. Not waiting for instructions, Dagur began to climb on Deathkiller's back. The dragon began to fly and Dagur inhaled, sharply. It went faster than he had thought. He struggled to stay on its back, but soon he got the hang of it and laughed.

"Let's see your aim, Sparky." The Skrill fired at his target and hit it, perfectly. It turned out that you would only get electrocuted if he shot you. Riding was rather safe. Only minor electric zaps could be felt and Dagur was exhilarated by them. He and Heather went back to their Island and trained Deathkiller more. Dagur finally had his Skrill.

**Planning?**

Dagur was growing irate with hearing how the hunters kept besting his friends so he found one. Jumping off Deathkiller, he pulled out his ax and pointed it at the hunter's throat. "You're going to help me hit Viggo where it hurts the most. His gold. Where does he sell the dragons?" he threatened. The hunter almost fainted, but Dagur wacked him in the head to bring him back. "V-Viggo has dragon auctions." he stammered. "They move around, constantly, but I heard about one comin' up in a few weeks."

The hunter told Dagur all he needed to know and was executed. "_Can't have any loose ends telling on us." _Dagur decided. He went to the edge and told the riders what he had learned. "This could be big." Hiccup thought aloud, "If we enter the auction, we can take all the gold **and** free the dragons." "Don't you mean, if you **pretend** to enter the auction?" Dagur questioned. Hiccup shook his head, "No, I mean enter it. We'll use Berk's gold so we can get close. We could use your Berserker gold too." Dagur cackled and stopped, "No, you cannot. You're really going to put all of Berk's gold together and give it to Viggo?" "It won't be there long. Just long enough to get us close and then we can take it back out."

Dagur looked at Hiccup with doubt, "It's **your**gold, but no Berserker wealth will be included in this scheme. It's too risky even for me. Who'd go and be the auctionee anyway?" Hiccup pointed to Snotlout. Before the chief could complain, Hiccup said, "He's the only one that Viggo **definitely** doesn't know. I mean, since **you** kill everyone you come across, they wouldn't be able to recognize you either. But I've got the feeling you don't want that position." "I know that **you**, Mr. Sparey wouldn't want me in that position. Well, hope you can pull it off Snotlung." The Jorgenson frowned, "And you better hope that Stoick agrees with all this." Dagur finished.

Stoick was not very pleased with the concept of Snotlout having control over all their gold, but he did cave, eventually. The plan was set into motion and was going all right, until Snotlout got recognized. Dagur was sneaking around with DeathKiller and heard it be mentioned by a hunter. He prepared to go down and get them out when he heard Hiccup. The heir was saying how Viggo had the gold. "_Probably no need to get upset over that. If I were Viggo, I'd have no gold in it at all. Just rocks!" _he mused. Next thing Dagur knew, the viking was diving into the ocean to retrieve the chest.

With a frustrated grunt, Dagur had Deathkiller fired a shot at the ship-it made the voyage back very unsafe for the hunters- and they dove after the pair. They grabbed Hiccup and Toothless and flew them over to the sand. Dagur went over to his dragon and rubbed his palm against Deathkiller's face. Being a Skrill, water affected him some.

Toothless came up and nuzzled Dagur-who tried not to pull away. "You okay, Brother?" he inquired. Hiccup panted,"Yeah, we at least have the-" he stopped, having opened the chest and seen it vacant. "Rocks! The gold is gone!" Hiccup shouted. "_What_ _how_?_."_ Dagur thought, sarcastically. They flew back and told the others, who had escaped by that time.

Back at the edge, they received a letter. "It's from Viggo." Hiccup divulged, "He wants me to come meet him at this island." he pointed to the map on the letter. Hiccup took Astrid with him and returned to say that Viggo wanted to make a deal. "He doesn't want us on this half for a reason." Hiccup surmised. "Or, he knows that you'd think that and go. Not like he hasn't tracked us before." The Berserker reminded him.

After hearing the "plan", Dagur tried-and failed- to conceal his opinion of its ridiculousness. "So, we're **all**going **right** where the half ends? Hoping, all the way, that we're neither followed nor having your base attacked in our absence?" he laughed, "You worry me sometimes, Hiccup. You really do." "What would **you** suggest?" Hiccup asked, slightly bitter. "I'd go to this place still. Curious now. But, some people should be left here to defend the edge, some around this new island to spot any ships, and **then** someone on the island." He received impressed looked, "What? I love crazy more than anyone, but I love not being tricked even more."

Since it would have been too good to be true and they were more accustomed to it, the riders went with Hiccup's idea. Dagur and Deathkiller sneaked around the island. They, simultaneously, stopped, "Seems like we have an audience, Skrilly." he whispered. They flew up and saw some people, wearing black ninja-like outfits, hiding in the forest. "Let's see if our friends were as observant."


	2. Alliances

_So I learned that to have the chapters pop up in the select section, you have to start new documents and connect them. From this point on, they shall be this way._

Dagur and Deathkiller found the other riders tied up and surrounded. The surrounders bowed, "All desicions shall be made by Queen Mala." one said. _"Queen Mala? I've heard of her."_ Dagur thought. She started talking about how the riders must have been hunters because of their "enslaved" dragons. The Berserker flew down and raised his hands in peace. "We didn't come here to spy on or attack you, Queen Mala. We're enemies of Viggo too. We just came here to see if we could protect whatever he might be after."

The matriarch eyed him up and down, "You speak of peace and yet you force a dragon to bear your weight and fly you wherever you wish. If you **are**, in truth, our ally, descend from this poor creature and deal with us alone." Dagur smirked, "Quick question, if I come down, are you going to apprehend me? I don't play as nicely as they do." he gestured to the riders. Mala pondered, "I look not for unnecessary battles. As long as you do not try to harm any of my subjects, I will ensure that none of us attempt the same for you and your own."

Dagur jumped down from Deathkiller, "Mind untying them?" he requested. Mala frowned, "Not yet. I cannot be sure what you all would do as a team. **You **shall speak on their behalf." Dagur saw the riders turn ashen. "_What do they think I'm going to say?_" he wondered, hurt. The pair(followed by some guards) went over to her throne. "Who are you and why do you force that dragon to carry you?" she questioned. "I'm Dagur the Deranged and I don't for him. I saved him from some hunters and he helped me fight them. After that, we've just been close and the best way to fight together is riding on his back." Dagur answered, honestly.

The queen stared, thoughtfully, "Dagur the Deranged." she said, quietly. "I believe that I've heard your name before now. For what should you be known?" "I'm the chief of the Berserkers." he informed her. Her eyes widened, "You are the one that way imprisoned for three years on Outcast Island." He tensed at the memory, "Yes. It was a chief's duty." Mala paused and the corners of her mouth moved upwards, "So, you took responsibilty for the actions caused by one of your subjects." she said.

Dagur thought for a moment, "Is that volcano dormant?" Mala shook her head, "No, our Great Protector eats the lava as it comes to prevent the kingdom from devastation." she motioned to a sculpture of a dragon, "She is an Eruptodon." "So you guys use dragon help too!" Dagur called her out, excitedly. She flustered, "Well, it is a symbiotic relationship." she defended. "Whatever you need to tell yourself." Dagur laughed. Seeing the jovial intent behind the statement, she smiled.

"_The dragon might be what Viggo was after if that's what's keeping them from roasting." _Dagur figured. "Uh, Mala, I swear that we're on your side-which is why I'm telling you this. Viggo might or might not have followed us here to take your Eruptodon." he admitted. Mala gasped and ran to where their Great Protector stayed. They found that it was gone.

"You tricked me! Distracted me while your master came and left us bereft!" she yelled at Dagur. "Hey, I **told **you about the chance of it happening. If I had wanted to make sure they got your Eruptodon, I would've just killed all of you back there." The queen glared at the chief and calmed herself. "She could still be on the island." Dagur offered and they looked; nothing could be spotted for the dragon.

The two went back to where the riders were, "Mala, we can help you get the dragon back." Dagur told her. She looked at him, "If you wanted to **help** me, why were you all so reckless in coming here. Never before now, have outsiders come to our island and lived to tell their comrads." "I know, I know. This plan was stupid to me too." Dagur confided, "But we should move, quickly, if we want any hope to find it."

"_Desperate times._" Mala mused, "Dagur the Deranged, I will accompany you all on this quest. Riding on your dragon." she struggled to say the last sentence and had her warriors free the riders. "Okay, would I be correct in remembering that the edge has a volcano?" Dagur asked the riders. Their eyes widened in concern. "Thought so. We have to-" he, suddenly, pushed Mala. She fell to the ground and before she could say anything, saw an arrow zoom past her.

She stared at the Berserker with an unreadable expression. He charged at and grabbed the hunter by the throat. Seeing the riders, he only hit the hunter with the handle of his weapon, rendering him unconscious. "Ready?" he inquired. Dagur helped her climb onto Deathkiller and they began their flight to the edge.


	3. Possibilities

Mala was in sheer awe as they flew above the waters. _"This is a magical." _she thought. She tore her gaze away from the close sky to look in front of her. _"Could the prophecy be true?"_ she pondered. The queen began to poke at Dagur's left bicep. "Not an effective way to avoid falling off, Queeny." he said. She kept doing it and he turned, "What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed. "You are quite muscular." she responded, impressed. "So?" "So, there is a legend- or prophecy moreso- that a man, from a land different than mine, would come and save my life. Where that arrow was coming, it would have pierced my throat and ended my life. This man is said to, also, become my husband and future king of the Defenders of the Wing."

Everyone stared at her in shock. "Wait what?" Hiccup asked, "You're going to marry Dagur?" "It is foretold." she remarked. "Uh, let's focus on getting that dragon back." Astrid suggested. Of course, that was difficult for Dagur, "_Who even **is** this lady? Okay, just think about axing Viggo. Yep, that did the trick."_ he thought.

The group reached the edge as the hunters docked on the coast. The Eruptodon flew out of the ship and over to their volcano. "Fishlegs," Hiccup started, "go follow that Eruptodon." "And do what?" the viking asked, panicked. "She eats lava. Your Gronckle can provide a way to divert her attention." Mala suggested. He went off and the others went down to deal with the opponents.

When close enough to the ground, Mala jumped from Deathkiller to fight the attackers. She pulled out her sword and gutted one, then, gracefully, leapt over another and plunged her weapon into his back. "_Hm, not half bad. Least she's not all no killy." _the Berserker chief mused. More hunters came to attack her and she was soon surrounded. Deathkiller shot a few blasts at them and swooped down. Grabbing her by the hand, Dagur brought her back up on the dragon's back.

They flew to the ships and rammed into them. "What purpose does this serve? It might only inconvenience them, slightly." Mala mentioned. Dagur shook his head, "Look. They're falling into the sea." he cheered. Deathkiller started to fire a large blast that would have killed all the swimmers. "Stop! This is a no casualty mission, Dagur." Astrid told him. "Because they never want us to have any fun!" Ruffnut complained. Mala's eyebrows rose, "That would have been quite, strategically, clever." she complimented. The queen smiled, brightly, "The Great Protector!" The Eruptodon flew above their heads, led by a group of Gronckles. "Nice work, Fishy." Dagur told the viking. "It was all Meatlug. She called the others to come help." Fishlegs divulged.

They returned to the Defenders of the Wing Island and the Great Protector reassumed her position as lava manager. "So we must begin the trials." Mala said to Dagur. "What trials?" "You cannot simply **become** king. Trials to see if you are worthy must be done first." she explained. He scrunched his face, "I have to get back to Berserker Island, Mala. Those 'trials' are gonna have to wait a little bit." "_Maybe forever. We'll see."_ he thought. "Very well. We shall await your return and proceed when you are ready, Dagur the Deranged." she complied.

They headed back to the edge, "Are you really going to marry her?" Hiccup inquired. "Probably not." "Imagine **you** getting married." Snotlout chuckled. Dagur frowned, "And why's that so hard?" he asked, harshly. Snotlout gulped, "It's not-er. I don't know." he shrunk. Hookfang rolled his eyes at his friend's response. "Relax, Dagur. You **just** met Mala. Marriage isn't the best option right now, but you might find someone you fall in love with." Hiccup said, with a significant look at Astrid.

The Berserker returned to his island and was greeted by his sister. "My turn." Heather said, "I want some action and babysitting these vikings is getting tiresome. Plus, I'll get to see Fishlegs again." she blushed at the last part. Dagur smirked, "I'm sure he'll be more than glad to see you too." he said. If anyone else had liked his baby sister, he would have run them through by then; however, he knew Ingerman and that he was a good guy that would never dare hurt Heather. If nothing else, fear alone would be his incentive.

"How long do you plan on being away?" he questioned. Heather put her hand to her chin, "It's so easy to get caught up in it all. No more than a month and a half. It could be less, though." Theu hugged and her brother wished her well. Windshear gave Dagur a snuggle and took flight.


	4. All For What Is Desired

Heather had enjoyed herself during her visit. She and Fishlegs had different talks about dragons and even had their first kiss. The Berserker watched as a Terrible Terror flew over and hit her, now official, boyfriend in the face. She giggled as the young man pried it off of him. "Oh no!" he said, reading its letter. "What is it?" "Come on. We have to tell Hiccup." he took her by the hand and they ran to Hiccup's hut.

"Hiccup! Berk is and Viggo and trading-" Fishlegs struggled to say, coherently. "Take a deep breath, Fishlegs." the heir suggested. The viking obliged, "Viggo's ruining the trading routes to Berk. So-" "Since Berk has no gold to buy anything and the traders can't come in, there are no supplies coming in." Hiccup finished. He slumped in a chair, "What kind of person would target innocent women and children like that?" "We have to help them." Astrid said. They loaded up and went to Berk.

A Terrible Terror flew into Berserker Island's stable station. Dagur had just finished doing some training exercises with Deathkiller and saw the dragon. He took the letter and pet it in return, "Glad we have resources now, huh Killy?" he stated to his dragon. He loaded up some ships with different foods, a few weapons, and Willow Bark. "Set the course for Berk." he told the ships and steered their main vessel forward.

They disembarked and gave the supplies to the Berkians. The Berserker looked around, solemnly. Men, women, and children were starving. "_They had no part of this war with Viggo. We've **got** to stop him."_ he mentally declared. Stoick came out and saw him, "Thank you, Dagur. There hasn't been any trader in these docks for weeks. As you can see, our people are suffering because of it." "We're allies." the young chief smiled, "Gotta stick together in hard times."

"We can figure out where Viggo keeps his gold, if we work some people over." Dagur told his friends. The riders all saddled up, even Stoick and Gobber. They split up and scoured the seas looking for hunters. The Berserker siblings found some first. "There." Heather pointed out. They flew down and Windshear cut the bases of the sails. Honestly, Heather wanted to split some hunters apart with that razor sharp tail, but knew that Fishlegs would be heartbroken at such violence. Dagur was another story. Deathkiller grabbed one in his mouth and flew up.

The hunter screamed. "Tell us where Viggo keeps his gold." The viking spilled everything he knew and yes, literally, everything. After giving all the details to finding the gold, he, fearfully, rambled about other facts he had learned. "Ugh, are you hungry, Boy?" Dagur asked, excitedly and patted the dragon's head. Deathkiller roared, happily. "Brother." Heather started, reprimandingly. He sighed, hard, "Fine. You've been around our brother too long. He's ruining your Berserker spirit." Dagur complained, "Just drop him." he told the Skrill, disappointed.

The pair found the others and told them the information. They went to the island and found ruins. "Are you **sure** this is where the hunter said the gold was?" Stoick asked. "Positive." the siblings replied. The looked around and Dagur kept feeling this nagging feeling about the ruins. He frowned at them, "What is it?" Snotlout asked. "I don't know. Think **these** have anything to do with the gold?" Snotlout shrugged, "They don't seem very coiny." he noted. "Well, that's not necessary." Fishlegs began, "Gold can be melted and made into many forms. It's possible that Viggo might have been able to make something with it."

Stoick stared at the ruins, "They're the only things here, so let's give that theory a try." Skullcrusher fired a blast and some of the coating on the ruins burned away. "It looks a **little** yellow." Tuffnut attempted. "You try, Bud." Hiccup told Toothless. More coating left and the vikings could see that there was gold concealed underneath the dirt and coloring.

"Since we can go the fastest, Toothless and I will go bring back some ships to transport the gold." Hiccup stated. The others nodded and off he flew. They did not hear when a net caught the pair. The vikings started work on separating the gold blocks, so that they could be moved in an easier way. Dagur lifted a block and moved it to the ground as Heather came over to him. "I'm going to stay with them a little longer. It's been so nice having adventures all the time." she said to him. "Oh, Okay." he replied, not quite what else to say. He wanted her to come back, but not if she would be unhappy. She noticed his ambivalence, "I won't be gone forever. I **do** plan on coming back home, Dagur." she assured him. He put on a smile and continued working.

The dragons began to grow anxious, "What's wrong, Girl?" Fishlegs asked Meatlug. "Something's wrong. Hiccup should have been back by now." Astrid said, worriedly. They looked around the island and the Twins and Gobber were netted. Grump ate through the their nets and Stormfly, narrowly, avoided an arrow. The other dragons shot out blasts that trapped the hunters in a ring of fire. "Where's my son?" Stoick demanded. They said that Hiccup was in a ship on its way to the hunters hideout.

"Astrid, Dagur, and Heather, you three come with me. The rest of you, stay here and make sure the gold isn't lost again." Stoick ordered. The four of them found Viggo's ship and Skullcrusher flew into its side. Heather and Windshear went down and cut the deck, making an opening for flying. They could see dragon cages as the riders flew into the area. "Toothless!" Astrid exclaimed, happily. The Nightfury was tied and muzzled in a cell. Windshear tried to cut the bars, but it did not work.

"That dragon's not going anywhere." a hunter said. More piled in and came at the vikings. Stoick and Astrid fought, almost savagely, and the riders defeated them, instantly. The Berkian chief took keys from one and unlocked the door. Toothless nuzzled up to him as he took off the restraints. The Nightfury took, then them to where Hiccup was being kept. "Son!" Stoick said, relieved.

He took the keys back out, but none fit. Sensing that they were not alone, Dagur turned to face who had come over to them, "You did not think that I would let any expendable guard keep the keys to our, dear, Hiccup did you?" Viggo said, condescendingly. He smiled and continued, "Now, I believe that you still have something of mine. Not on you now, mind you, but at your base." They glared at him, "Bring me my Dragon Eye and I will release him." Viggo looked at Hiccup, "The cages grow heavier everyday, we might be forced to lighten our load soon." he said. "Why you-" Stoick began, "You'll never be able to find the keys. Only **I **know their whereabouts, so if you wish to kill me, know that it would be two dragons with one arrow."

"Don't give it to him." Hiccup protested. "Time is of the essence, Stoick. Best be on your way now." Viggo told him. Begrudgingly, they left. "There is **no** way we can give that madman the Dragon Eye." Heather said. "No, there's not. And there might be a way we don't have to." Dagur told her with a deranged twinkle in his eyes.


	5. Finding Different Ways

The four flew over the gold-harboring island and landed next to the others. "Would it be rude to note that I'm seeing a lack of a one-legged viking with you? And you just look weird on T, Astrid." Tuffnut said. She sighed, "Viggo wanted a trade. Hiccup for the dragon eye." "Well, that's not how **that **was supppsed to go down." Snotlout noted. "Gobber, did you say that Grump can bite through everything?" Dagur inquired. Gobber lit up and got back on Grump's saddle.

They went to Viggo's ship. "Bringing new friends with you?" he inquired, staring, hard, at the Hotburple. Ryker's eyes widened, "That drago-" he started. Grump flew into them and bit into the cell bars, ripping them off the handles. "Thanks Grump." Hiccup said, as he mounted Toothless. "Now, **how** exactly would killing you be a disservice to me?" Stoick asked, walking forward, menacingly. Viggo smiled, smugly, "Because it would cost you the lives of the riders still on that island."

"Right about now, a special new device that I have made is releasing a noxious gas. It won't kill them, but it will render them unconscious while my men arrive and take their dragons and their lives." The riders rushed out to help the vikings. They saw Fishlegs, the twins, Snotlout, and the dragons all sprawled out on the grass. Hunters approached them with weapons drawn.

Toothless shot one hunter-that readied himself to behead Fishlegs-and Stormfly shot tail spines around the riders to prevent the villains from coming closer. Deathkiller and Windshear chased them back to the ships while the others went to check on the team. They checked their vitals, "Viggo was right. They're all right, just incapacitated. I wonder where he got the chemical combination to do this." Hiccup stated. "Never can be sure about Viggo." Astrid said.

The returned to Berk to retrieve some cargo ships and loaded up the gold. Heather looked at her brother, "This thrill **is** insurmountable." Dagur conceded. She smiled and flew back to the edge with the riders. The other Berserker went back to his island. He received word, later, that the gas chemicals had been examined from one of the toxins that a dragon called Triple Stryke had. "Interesting. What you think of that Skrilly?" the dragon almost shrugged and kept eating his meal. The chief sighed, "Hopefully she won't be gone too long."

That night, he found himself waking in a cold sweat. "_When are these going to stop?_" he thought, angrily. He rose and washed up, grumbling all the while. Walking into the throne room, he tried to think of some battle plans. None of the ideas were even making sense to **him**, "That's stupid. We'd just get wiped out. Or, if we go in the middle of the night," he accented what he was saying by pretending to sneak around, "we can get them while they sleep! Kind of a coward move, though. Who's **they** anyway? Eh, I don't even remember whether there was someone in particular or not."

The hut was beginning to feel, eerily, empty, so Dagur left and went to the stables. "Hey, Deathkiller. Do you want to wrestle?" he asked, hopefully. The Skrill grunted, sleepily, "Just sleep? Boring." he complained. "And lucky. Fine, I'll go do something else. All alone, by myself, sad and desolate." he continued, dramatically, raising the back of his right hand to his forehead and peeking an eye at the dragon. Deathkiller chuckled at him and went on with his snoring. "Glad I could be of entertainment." Dagur laughed and went back to the village. He just decided to do combat training until dawn. A chief had to be fit after all.


	6. Blood Is Thicker

Dagur stepped back to look at his, finally completed, creation. "It's beautiful." he said, emotionally. A throne, adorned with weapons, sat in the center of the room. He had been so bored since Heather left. Everyone was in their place and getting along, not being berserk at all. The chief made a throne for Heather too, also adorned with weaponry. _"I wonder_ _if she would want more bludgeons or not._" he thought.

"_I hope she gets back soon._" He went outside and trained with Deathkiller. "One more loop, Baby. Make Daddy proud!" he encouraged. The Skrill made a ring out of electricity and they flew in its middle. The Berserker laughed and then squinted. "_Is that-"_ They flew towards the dots in the sky and met up with the riders. Dagur began to panic as he saw who was there. "Where's Heather?" he asked, concerned. He was met with worried faces. They landed by the stables.

"What happened?" Dagur demanded. "We went out on a mission to get some Changewings back and Heather and Fishlegs got captured." Hiccup told him. The chief shifted back and forth on his feet, "Where were you?" "At the edge. The Changewing migration is happening right now and we found some getting taken. When Heather and Fishlegs went in to save them, we found out that the hunters knew we were there." Astrid said. "We now where they're headed. We just didn't have enough people to cover the fight." Hiccup explained.

Dagur called to his warriors, "Listen up! Heather has been taken captive by Viggo and the hunters. We're going to go there en mass, rip their skeletons out of their pathetic bodies, and bring her back home!" The Berserkers cheered. "I hope that was just a way to boost morale." Hiccup said to him. Dagur heard nothing, his only focus was making sure that the warriors were ready for battle and that his own mind was sharp enough to ensure Heather's safe return.

Deathkiller stood in the ship next to Dagur. The Berserker had never navigated so well as he did then. He fumed the entire way until they spotted a ship. "There they are." Hiccup flew over to tell him. The Berserker ships were larger and sturdier than the hunters', so Dagur steered into the smaller vessel. Jumping on Deathkiller, they zoomed onto the other deck.

The Skrill bit into hunters and threw them into the water. Dagur dismounted and non-eaten hunters came at him. He axed one that approached him and ran to ax another. A hatch opened and Ryker arrived on the scene. He scowled at his fallen crew, "Lookin' for your sister, eh? Might just be too late now." Ryker stated, with a smug smile. He and Dagur charged at each other. The hunter slashed with his sword and missed. Dagur disarmed him, kicked behind his knees, and raised his ax.

The Berserker brought down his ax and stopped mid-plunge when he saw what he would hit. Hiccup stood in his way, glaring, "No, this is **not** how we're going to end this. Put down that ax, Dagur." The chief fumed and shook, violently. Ryker rose and went to escape. Dagur went to move around Hiccup, who did not notice Ryker leaving-nor did the others-and kept moving to block him. He shoved Hiccup out of his way and the viking hit the wall, hard. Dagur was pinned to the ground by Toothless, who had a murderous look in his eyes

The Nightfury bared his fangs and the Berserker turned ashen. Dagur changed the look in his own eyes and laughed, "Finally time to complete what you started? You've had my taste in your mouth for years and just couldn't stand not having it all. Well, my sister takes priority, so you're gonna have to wait longer." Deathkiller shot Toothless with a blast of electricity and scooped up Dagur. The two maneuvered around the riders and were almost in the clear. The chief cringed as he heard spines being shot. Two hit the Skill in his side, "You can make it, Skrilly." Dagur encouraged. Deathkiller tried to keep flying, but slowed and they were caught by the others.

The others forced them to land and Astrid pointed out her ax, "We're going back to the edge to regroup. Are you going to be civil or act like a savage?" she questioned. Dagur looked at his situation and complied. He knew when he was outmatched and there were just too many dragons for him to get Deathkiller and himself out. Hookfang and Barf and Belch carried the Skill back to the edge as Dagur rode with Astrid.

"What the heck was all that?!" Hiccup yelled at him, "You just slaughtered the entire crew and were about to kill Ryker!" Dagur still fumed, "How dare you. **You** let him get away and you're upset with me?" he asked, irate. Toothless snarled, "And keep your murderer under control." the viking growled. The riders looked at each other. Astrid took two spines from Stormfly and hit them together. The Triple Stryke came over to her. "**You're **the one's that out of control, Dagur. We can't trust you to handle this situation, correctly." Hiccup told him. "What does **that** mean?" Dagur asked, suspiciously. The riders began to close in on him, "I don't want to fight any of you." "You won't have to."

The Triple Stryke went to where Dagur was-the only remaining space. The Berserker tried to move around to avoid whatever attack would ensue, but had nowhere to go without possibly hurting one of the others. He felt a sting and a lingering pain in his side. His vision blurred and everything went red. Clutching his abdomen, he sank to the ground. Astrid came over and bound his hands behind his back and Toothless crawled to him. The Nightfury dragged him by the leg as lethargic fear coursed through Dagur's veins.

The Berserker was locked in a cell, he shook his head to try to shake away toxins. "I just want Heather to be safe." Dagur said, sincerely. The younger viking checked his dragon for any injuries caused from the lightning. "When the mission is over, I hope that you'll be calmer." Hiccup said. He and Astrid mounted their dragons, "You can't leave me here. I have to make sure she's okay! Please, Hiccup!" Dagur pleaded. "She **will** be. Just wait until we get back." Hiccup and Astrid left. Dagur watched in despair as Snotlout and the twins muzzled Deathkiller and put him in a cell. The three looked at their friend, sadly and left with the other two.

Dagur worked on the ropes restraining him. "_Got 'em._" he thought, contently. Separating his arms, the ropes tore. The man went to the cell bars and tried to find a weak point. He yelled in rage as he punched dents in them. Thoughts of what Heather could be enduring, spurred him to keep attacking. Deathkiller began to stir awake and shot at the bars to help. They broke and the viking cheered. He grabbed his ax and freed the Skrill. The Triple Stryke came and Deathkiller hit him with a powerful blast. The other dragon laid down, unconscious.

"There's no way I'm leaving Heather's life in Hiccup's, frail hands. Let's go get my sister, Killy." Dagur told him, ignoring the pain from the Triple Stryke's poison. They flew off to follow where the riders had gone.


	7. Dangerous

Dagur and Deathkiller flew faster than an Smothering Smokebreath to find new metal. They spotted the riders and sneaked past them. "Now, Viggo won't just be there. No, Ryker will have the honor of being killed by us while his baby bro is sitting pretty in his lair somewhere." He said to the Skrill. They found the ship and Dagur signaled for his dragon to be quiet. He crept onto the vessel and searched.

"_Here, Celly celly. Which one of you has my sister?" _he pondered. He found Meatlug and Windshear in a cell across from Fishlegs. He was relieved that the two were safe, but even more worried about Heather then. "Dagur!" Fishlegs said, in an excited whisper, "Heather's okay. They just took her back to be interrogated by Ryker a few minutes ago." "I'll get Heather and the keys, then come back and free you two. Okay?" The younger viking nodded in response and the elder left him.

Dagur went along the sides of the walls. He heard voices and recognized them as belonging to his sister and Ryker. He scraped his weapon against the door, causing an irritating sound. "What **is **that?" Ryker asked, annoyed. He opened the door and dodged an ax to the face. The hunter was put on the defensive as Dagur attacked. Only more hunters coming stopped him from finishing the deed._ "There is about to be a whole shipload in this room."_ he realized.

Being unwilling to leave empty handed, he tried to lop off Ryker's head and then did mutilate the hunter's right leg. The viking cried out in pain and Dagur cut the ropes on Heather. Since she was unarmed, he kept her behind him as he took out those in their path. Catching sight of keys, he snatched them and they went back to the viking and dragons. The trio flew out and saw the other riders attacking hunters on the deck.

"How did you? Nevermind. Let's head back." Hiccup stated. Dagur was unconvinced they should, "They would have killed them. I say we take out some cargo." "Brother, no. We can stop them a different way." Heather said, gently. Her brother grunted and they returned to the base. "You're coming home." Dagur told Heather, firmly. She frowned, but knew he was right. It had been too long since she had been home and she had missed Dagur a lot. Hiccup put a hand on her should and whispered something. The riders went into his hut with Dagur frowning after them.

"All that happened?" Heather inquired, shocked. "I think he should be given a pass. You were in danger, Heather. **I **had a hard time not seeming a little extreme while we were there." Fishlegs defended. "Not like **his** plan didn't work." Snotlout stated. "I just don't know if it's a great idea to have him lead right away." Hiccup voiced. "He's the rightful chief. It's actually extremely uncommon that a younger sibling have any say at all in tribal affairs and he lets us co-lead. I can't just order him to do or not do something, though." Heather told, she went pensive, "If I see anything else that could prove him not to be a suitable leader for us, then I'll take action. Not before, though. If **he** had been captured, I know that I would have been in a rage."

Heather went back out of the hut and smiled at her brother. She gave Fishlegs a kiss and mounted Windshear. "See ya, Fishy." Dagur said. He, visually, shot daggers at the other riders and they began their trip. It was very late when they reached Berserker Island and both were exhausted. They said goodnight to each other and went to their rooms. Heather found that she could not sleep, though. No matter how fatigued she was, what the riders said had truly disturbed her.

_"Maybe I'll get some water. Or mead."_ she chuckled at how much like their mother she sounded and grew somber at the memory. Both of their parents were gone. Dagur was all she had left, but she would do what was necessary for her people. She walked down to the eating area to grab her drink, still unsure of which to choose.

A muffled noise caught her attention. Walking to it, she realized that it came from Dagur's room. She put her ear to the door and heard what sounded like the sheets noving around like crazy. He was mumbling something that she could not make out and his sharp inhale of breath ended the commotion. Creaks indicated that he had gotten up and water splashed. She rushed back to her room and peeked as he left his own.

He looked exhausted and worn as he grabbed some mead. His eyebrow rose as he saw things had been moved since that night. He did not care too much as he figured that Heather could have done just what she did, come for a drink. Chugging down his beverage, he went outside for some fresh air.

He went to the training arena with his sister trailing far behind. The area was soundproof and he loved that. He set up some dummies and attacked them, viciously. One might or might not have been imagined to be Hiccup. The moon was full and the viking howled at its glory. Heather watched, disturbed, from afar. What seemed so wrong to her was a form of meditation to him. Fighting was what he knew best. It was what he had always had to do and he relished in his skill. Here, he did not have to try to act sane to garner respect from the Berserker elders or to be a good role model for the young vikings. He could just let out his rage and frustrations.

The time got the better Heather and she went back to their hut to sleep. Dagur stayed and trained more. That day, he noticed she was behaving strangely towards him. She kept giving him uneasy glances. He did not know, exactly, what the riders had said, but it seemed like their words had stuck with her.

Heather wanted to see if the prior night was a one time thing or not, so she put her ear to Dagur's door again. The muffled words were a little louder, but still incoherent. She heard thumping and curses. Her curiousity could no longer be restrained as she, quietly, opened the barrier between them.

Dagur was tossing, wildly, in his bed and sweat clung to his pain-stricken face. Violent tremors quaked his body and he bit into his pillow, tearing it apart. Heather wondered who he thought it was. "_I can't just let this continue."_ She went over and raised her hand to nudge him. A hand, that covered her entire neck, stopped her.

"Thought you could get me this time didn't you, Alvin? Go jump in the icy sea." Dagur said, crazily. His hazy eyes focused and he, immediately, let go. "Heather!" The viking held her throat and looked at him with fear. Seeing this, Dagur's heart broke. She ran to her room and closed the door. Dagur punched his wall and yelled. Neither rested anymore that night as they dreaded what the next day would bring.


	8. Fates

When sun rose, Dagur, hesitantly, left his room. He had sat on his bed since Heather had run away from him. _"How could I have almost hurt her? What's wrong with me? Mom and Dad were right. I **am **a disgrace."_ he thought, sadly. He saw that Heather was already gone. She was in the Hall, talking to the elders. He walked by and listened, "We understand and agree, Heather. Berserker Island is behind you in your desicion." the head elder stated.

Heather exited the building with six guards and went up to her brother. Her face was stern and her eyes were miserable. She squared her shoulders, "Dagur the Deranged," she began. Dagur bit his bottom lip, she never used his full title. "You are requested to step down as chief of the Berserker tribe." Dagur felt a pit in his stomach. He loved leading his people and had done so very well.

He frowned, "I have led these people with respect and accuracy during my reign. Why is it assumed that I would stop now?" "The council and I have spoken about your mental state and you were deemed as too mentally unstable to lead us any further." Heather responded, "Step down, calmly, or forceful actions will be used." she threatened. Rage boiled inside of the man and he swallowed it down, "What, in particular, about my mental state?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Your kills have become inhumane and your night terrors indicate that it is unsafe to be around you." Heather told him. "I don't deal with vikings in my sleep-except when they come uninvited to my bedroom-and since when does killing enemies make me a bad chief?" Dagur questioned. He saw Ansson in the Hall smiling.

Heather's eyes glistened, "So you won't step down, willingly?" "I will not. I have no reason to. It's not like **I've** gotten any of our people taken captive." Dagur stated, firmly. Heather looked at him, hurt, and stepped back, "Guards," she said, "arrest this viking for opposing the council's law and endangering Berserker Island." Dagur backed away from the guards. He knew he could defeat them, but they were his people and he knew by their expressions that they were hurt by what they were told to do. "Heather, put me against a wild dragon or something. You know I won't attack my own." he requested. She said nothing and he was kept backing away from them. It was futile, though, as the whole island would be on board with this and there was nowhere to go. He was captured and they brought him to the council.

"Dagur the Deranged, we hereby sentence you to prison until you can be trusted once more." the elder stated. Dagur paled, who knew how long it would take for them to think he was stable? **Was** he even? Vorg, gently, guided him to a cell and removed the shackles. "I'm sorry, Chief. They wouldn't listen to me." the soldier said, regretfully. "No hard feelings, Vorg. Keep your Berserker spirit strong." Dagur said with a smile. The older man left and Dagur succumbed to his trembling knees.

He had never been claustrophobic, but memories of his three years spent on Outcast Island flooded in like a dam that was broken. The cell door opened as Alvin entered. Dagur found himself being a teenager again and chained. "This is going to be fun. For me." the Outcast laughed and walked to him, menacingly. He pushed the young viking into a wall and held him there. A hand was brushed through the Berserker's hair. Dagur shook his head to clear his thoughts. "_I'm not there anymore. This is different. No one's going to do what Alvin and the others did, they couldn't if they tried. I'll just be here alone. To rot._ _Which is odd because I'm not food. Wonder what kind I'd be? A vegetable? Nah, I'm too rugged for that. Maybe a meat. Then I'd just be an animal or plant and not really a prepared dish. Come on think, Dagur! So many options to choose from!"_

Dagur laughed and laughed some more. Tears from laughing so hard formed and after a few minutes, became tears from sadness. He leaned against a wall and slumped down to the floor, crying. He thought about all the different things he had endured. Ansson, losing Haggard, Alvin and the Outcasts, his parents' hatred for him and their deaths, the riders no longer trusting him, and Heather and the Berserkers turning on him. He roared like a yak that had been mauled by a dragon, but only left to bleed out. "Odin help me." he begged.

Heather went to the arena and trained. _"How could I do that to him? He didn't hurt me and wasn't trying to. He just needs help, not imprisonment. But what if he **does** hurt someone? He **has** to stay there. It's the safest option for everyone."_ Her eyes stung as she kicked in a target. She never wanted to become chieftess because she knew that it would mean something happening to her brother.

That night was the worst Dagur had lived through since escaping jail. The guards were nice to him due to them having known and liked him for so long, but it was just being in prison again that messed with him so badly. Every creak in the floors sounded like one of Alvin's footsteps and every minute that passed made him resentful of Hiccup's influence on Heather.

Dagur thought about what could occur if the Berserkers went to battle against all the hunters and whatever they were planning. "_They won't stand a chance with Heather leading them. By the time they realize that they need me, it might be too late." _he thought, sadly and finally went to sleep, leaving himself at the mercy of his dreams.


	9. An Unfortunate Change

Heather had sent word to the Berkians about their new circumstances. Hiccup's eyes widened as he read the letter. "What is it?" Fishlegs asked, having paid full attention after hearing the message was from Heather. "It's about Dagur. Heather had him sent to prison to keep everyone safe." The young viking divulged. The other vikings looked at each other for an answer on what to do as Hiccup paced around the room, "I never wanted her to do **that**. I just thought that maybe he should wait a little while before doing any battles or something. I don't know." he said, exasperated.

"He's not dangerous- well, except to enemies." Astrid stated. The group stood in silence for a long minute. "I guess we should tell my dad. He's probably going to have a lot to say, so this might be better in person." Hiccup told them. The set their sights on Berk and went to the chief. "Hiccup, what is the issue?" Stoick asked, seeing the long faces. Hiccup related what he learned.

"Let me ask you this, why did you warn Heather in the first place?" The chief inquired. "Because of the way Dagur was acting. He **is** a threat, but it was getting difficult to be sure for whom." was the reply. "She should know her brother better than that. You all should. Heck, **I** know him better than that. Not everyone agrees with your 'no kill' policy, Son. And especially not when the lives of loved ones are on the line." Stoick reasoned, "Stability's never been Dagur's best skill, but he's not one to hurt someone he doesn't want to. If I had been him and you got in my way like that," Stoick laughed, "I might have had some explaining to do to on why Berk didn't have an heir anymore."

Hiccup did not find it all that amusing and Stoick put a hand on his shoulder. "You made a mistake, we all do, now make it right. While I'm sure you and Heather were both doing what you thought was best, this might have been one of the wost things you could have done. Heather should not be chieftess for more reasons than birthright and imprisoning Dagur again without good reason could have some serious consequences. Go, Hiccup. Before we lose an ally and a friend."

"We're going to Berserker Island." Hiccup told the rest. Snotlout sighed, loudly, "Can't we rest for a little bit? We just got **here**. Could've told you that the chief would just tell us to go and straighten things out." he complained. "Sure and maybe we'll tell our buddy, Dagur, that we were **going** to help get him released, but you wanted a nap first." Astrid taunted. "Shut up, Astrid. Besides, he'll be more mad at the viking that gave his sister the idea to lock him up." Snotlout mentioned, pointing at Hiccup. The heir dreaded the upcoming interaction and they left their island.

The group arrived on Berserker Island. "Why are you guys here?" Heather inquired, confused. "Because we need to fix all of this." Hiccup began. "Heather, I **never** wanted you to lock of Dagur. I just was thinking that he might become an issue sometime in the future, if he couldn't cool down. Can you imagine how he's feeling right now?" Tuffnut chimed in, "Yeah, think about it, other H. The last he went to jail, indefinitely, it was **for** you. Now it's **because** of you. Not even my sister would do that." "He's right. That is hardcore right there." Ruffnut agreed.

"But, the council and I have agreed that it is the best. You all weren't there. I saw him training like a savage killer. I saw him reacting to dreams. He almost choked me to death, thinking that I was Alvin!" Heather defended. They observed her, surprised. "He didn't think it was you, though. And did this happen during one of the nightmares you mentioned?" Hiccup questioned. Heather nodded. "Well, that's, easily, avoidable then. We just don't go into his room to wake him. You probably shouldn't have been there either, honestly." Fishlegs said, timidly, "Can we, at least, see how he's holding up?" the viking inquired. Heather sighed and conceded.

They went past the guards and walked back to Dagur's cell. A mix between happiness to see his friends and rage at their part in the matter went through the former chief. He said nothing and looked at them. Hiccup spoke first, "Dagur, I'm so sorry. This isn't what I wanted to happen." the viking felt the same he had all the years ago when Ylva had died. He was unsure of what to say to Heather to change her perspective on the situation and of what to say to Dagur.

"Where's Deathkiller? Is he okay?" Dagur asked Heather. "He's fine. Unhappy, but well looked after." she informed him. "Am I being released?" he inquired, she shook her head. "Then why did you come here, Haddock? Not that I minds seeing the rest of you." The Berserker said to the other riders. "To apologize." Hiccup explained. Dagur struggled to not laugh, "A lot of good that does me. But, hey, I'm finally being given something. I've gotten so accustomed to things being taken away from me. Guess there **is **nowhere to go, but up." Dagur said.

Heather frowned, "Not everything has been taken away, Brother." "So now I'm brother? It was 'crazy prisoner' before." She looked taken aback, "I never said that." "You just thought it, is all." Dagur stated. He scowled, "You don't know a thing about leading and you're going to just take over? We'll go extinct!" "I led for three years remember?" she pressed. "Yep, the laziest three years ever. No battles or enemies. You do recall what those are right? Because we have some again. When the hunters, and whoever the heck they ally up with, come storming into our borders, how do you plan on defeating them?" "Right now, I'm doing what we never should have stopped. Looking for dad." Heather decided. Dagur scoffed, "Great, no resources, just what we need in case of a siege!"

Heather huffed in anger, "I don't have time for this! Visiting hours are over effective immediately. I'm going to go and lead **my** people who respect and trust me. Something **you** wouldn't know a thing about." she said, cruelly, and stormed out. The riders had to follow her out, so with sad glances, they left the viking. "Unless you have anything non-Dagur related to say, I would appreciate if you all left." Heather told them. The riders returned to the Edge feeling worse than before.


	10. The Last Hurrah

Fishlegs looked, nervously, at the prison. "_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. What if he's mad at all of us now?"_ he wondered. He had come up with the idea that he visit Dagur every so often. Hiccup would not have been well-received, Astrid would have taken offense if Dagur have said anything about Hiccup, and the twins and Snotlout would have said something that would have only made things worse.

Gathering together some confidence, the young man walked into the jail. The guards let him pass and he went back to where Dagur was. The Berserker's face lit up at the sight, "Fishy." he smiled, then grew concerned, "This **is** just is casual visit right? No bad news?" "No bad news. Just wanted to see how you're doing." Fishlegs told him. Dagur shrugged, "I'll pass on answering that. How about you and the others? Any defeats against Viggo?" "A few." Fishlegs went on about what they had done.

Months had gone by and the visits continued. Both Fishlegs and Dagur enjoyed them a lot. It gave the Berkian a chance to see his friend an make sure he had not gone all the way loony and it gave the Berserker a chance to see his friend and keep updated. "We have some new enemies now. They ride on dragons too, but force them. Well, actually the main rider, Krogan, he seems to have bonded with his." the viking elaborated.

Dagur learned about the Singetails and all the new dragons they had found. He became somber, "Fishy, do you think that I'll ever be let out of here?" he asked. Fishlegs paused, "I, honestly, don't know, Dagur. I keep trying to convince Heather, but all we can do is hope." The former chief missed the action of adventures and the faces of his people. He even realized that he would miss the peace treaties and answering random questions from the Berserker vikings.

A few more months passed and the riders were almost done with the Dragon Eye. One last dragon remained and they were going to go on a final mission. Everyone, from Stoick to Gustav, was going to attack the hunters, flyers, and Johann with Hiccup's plan. Dagur was ansy the entire night, he could not stop wondering what was going on over there.

At three that morning, two figures stumbled into the prison. They were large vikings. Dagur's eyes, having adjusted to the darkness over the course of time, made out Fishlegs and Gobber. They were burnt and bruised, "Everyone...got..captured." Fishlegs told him, panting. "They were expecting us. We only made it out because Grump and Meatlug are immune to the arrows." Gobber stated, "I think Viggo knows where the King of Dragons is. He seemed extra smug." Dagur thought for a moment,"I think **I **do too. Now if you don't mind, could you grab those keys over there and let me out?"

They went outside and Dagur did a happy twirl, laughing. "Freedom, how you have been missed. This way to the center of the island." he said. They went to a part that resembled a mine entrance. "You see, I've never known why this was like this. It just always has been and no one's ever questioned it. But jail gives you some thinking time, oooh does it! Things started to make sense. Like **why** can't dragons fly on this island? What **is** that sound that can be heard so clearly from the cells? Knew it couldn't **all** be my imagination." Dagur explained.

They looked entered the area and found a spot covered with ice. Looking closer, they saw an enormous dragon. "Behold the King of Dragons." Dagur declared, proudly, "I'm sure that Viggo-being the saavy businessman that he is-would just love to make a trade. Let's give him the opportunity."

They went to the stables and Dagur reunited with Deathkiller. The Skrill roared, happily, as the viking hugged him. "Let's go, Skrilly. We've got some vikings to save." The trio found where the others had been taken and landed on the decks. Hunters raised their arrows as the vikings dismounted. "So much tension." Dagur noted, with mock offense taken, "And to think that we came all this way for a proposition. We'll just have to take our business elsewhere, I guess."

Viggo's interest sparked, "A proposition? **You** are giving **me** an ultimatum?" he chuckled, "Since it would be a shame to let such foolishness go by unentertained, do tell us what this 'proposition' of yours is, hm?" Dagur smiled, "You want the King of Dragons, don't you?" "Obviously." Viggo stated, "After we find the last piece, we shall take it and destroy all of your homes. A marvelous sight it will be for you to see your loved ones slaughtered before you."

Ryker growled at Dagur, "I say we kill them now. Starting with him." "Let not your vindictiveness override your brain, Brother. Continue, Dagur." Viggo instructed. "Your wait might be shorter than you expected. If I show you where the dragon is, will you release the others?" Dagur asked. Viggo pondered, "I see no reason why not." _"It is not as though I won't just kill you with the aid of said dragon king. Truly, he is just deranged and not the least bit intelligent__."_ the hunter thought. Dagur began to direct their course.

They docked at Berserker Island and the riders were freed. They saw what had occurred and were in shock, "You led them to the king?" Hiccup asked, horrified. "Yep." Dagur said with an insane smile. The hunters went to the dragon and tried to break through the ice. "Do you hear that?" Krogan asked, referring to a low hum. It grew louder and an army of dragons flew into the cave, attacking the hunters.

Dagur laughed at the screams, "They actually thought that dragon would just let them take it!" The Bewilderbeast had summoned dragons from every region and they killed hunters on land and in their ships. "You figured this would happen." Hiccup realized, impressed. Dagur smiled, "I might be a bit mad at you guys, but no one messes with my sister and friends."


	11. All's Well

The war between the riders and hunters/flyers had ended. No bodies even had to be removed as the dragons took care of that. Dagur was energized with all the excitement and took out some hunters and flyers, himself. He saw one about to shoot Toothless with a dragon root arrow and incapcitated him. Some hunters from the ships fired catapults at him and the Nightfury returned the favor by shooting them. When it all was over, he looked at the others, sadly. Sighing, he went to go back to the cell.

"Hold on." Heather said, "What you did was crazy, but it was clever too. Being unpredictable can help a lot in battle plans." She approached the council, "I revoke my complaint against Dagur the Deranged. He has led us well before and, I believe, he can again." The elders eyed him, contemplating. He smiled, nervously. "Therapy. Do weekly therapy to talk out your issues and this entire charge can be acquitted." He thanked them and left.

"I'm really sorry, Dagur. This all got out of hand. I know you'd never hurt me or any of us." Heather apologized. Dagur rubbed the back of his neck, "Can't say I blame you too much for being a bit wary of me. I just gotta find someone to talk to now." Fishlegs poked his head up, "I can be your therapist. I've read a lot of books on psychology and some say that I am a very good listener." Dagur laughed, "It's set then, Fishy." As the others walked away, he stopped Fishlegs, "Thanks." he added, sincerely. "No problem at all." Ingerman told him.

More time passed and Dagur reigned, wonderfully, as chief of the Berserkers. His talks with Fishlegs helped him work out a lot of anger that had been stored inside of him. He and Toothless still had some hesitations, but they were learning to get along. No longer did he have terrible nightmares. He was a far more stable man, but one that still was deranged.

Dagur could not just come up with another moniker, now could he?


End file.
